Operation: Reality Check
by TachyonOne
Summary: The very first fanfic I've written, over five years ago when I was fourteen. It's the unedited original, so be nice. *g* If I summarized for you I'd give the story away. :)
1. Six-Eighteen

Episode 1: Six-Eighteen

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/FRC fanfic 

by Roehl Sybing 

Episode 1 - "Six-Eighteen" 

In one reality...... 

It was two o'clock in the morning in Tokyo. All was silent, until five voices cried out: 

"MOON STAR POWER!" 

"MERCURY POWER!" 

"MARS POWER!" 

"JUPITER POWER!" 

"VENUS POWER!" 

It didn't take any longer than half a minute when the famous Sailor Scouts were fully transformed into their outfits. They were in front of the temple at the time, with their two guardians, Luna and Artemis, and their ally, Tuxedo Kamen (a.k.a. Tuxedo Mask). The team of eight reached the portal that was recently opened up by one of the monsters of the NegaVerse. For some reason, it was kept open. The Scouts decided to head into the portal and find out what the NegaVerse was up to. 

But the strange part was, the Scouts thought, why they are still fighting the NegaVerse. After all, they did defeat Queen Beryl and saved the Earth. But the reason didn't matter. All they knew was that Earth's greatest threat had to be stopped. 

The leader of the Scouts, Usagi "Serena" Tsukino, or otherwise known as Sailor Moon, stepped forward, looked into the gateway, and said, "We're supposed to go in THERE?" 

Rei Hino (or Sailor Mars) said, "Serena! You're the leader, you're supposed to get in there first!" 

"Yeah, I know......but it looks scary..." 

Sailor Moon thought it over for a second, and then added, "Oh, all right....." 

She jumped into the portal, with all the others following behind her. The portal took them to the NegaVerse, where someone was waiting at the other side. When all eight came out of the gateway, they recognized who was waiting. It was Queen Beryl, the master of the NegaVerse! 

After the hole in the wall where the Scouts came out of disappeared, their opponent stood up and said, "Fools! At last, I have you right where I want you!" 

Sailor Mercury (a.k.a. Ami Mizuno) stood in front and said, "It's a trap!" 

"Of course! You all thought I was dead, but why? I've spent two years, watching you fight others, noticing your weaknesses, and now I've come back for revenge!" 

Serena shouted, "We've all defeated you before. You know we're gonna do it again." 

"Ah, but the stakes are higher now. I have bigger things in mind! Take this!" 

At the wave of their adversary's hand, a flash of light lighted the room, blinding the team of eight. Within seconds all, but Queen Beryl, disappeared. They never knew what hit them. 

In another reality..... 

By order of the Federal Reality Commission, a team known as the Reality Jumpers were assigned to do a mission in a desert reality. The mission profile involved a six-eighteen: dislocation of multiple entities. With some luck, the FRC was able to locate two entities, so the RJ's were chosen to find them. It was three o'clock in the afternoon in the desert area that was once called Los Angeles, California. All was silent, until a portal opened up out of thin air. Out of the gateway came the five teenagers who made up the RJ's. The team of five, who were thrown out of the gateway and scattered throughout the area, talked into their communicators: 

"Jumper leader, Jake Tyler, checking in." 

"Jumper one, 'Jackie' Forez, getting ready." 

"Jumper two, Mike Conner, ready to roll." 

"Jumper three, Chris Davis, starting up." 

"Jumper four, Kim Swann, let's get this over with!" 

The team scanned the area for two life signs. While they were searching, Mike went up to Jake and said, "Hey, when we find this girl, you gonna ask her out?" 

"Only if she's hot." 

"Man, talk about picky." 

They both smiled and continued the search. After 15 minutes looking around the desert of Los Angeles, Kim spoke into her comm, saying , "Hey! I found them." 

The whole team grouped at the area where Kim found the two missing entities. It was just as the description said: a girl with some sort of uniform on holding a black cat. The two were found unconscious. Jake looked at the girl, turned to Mike with some surprise, and said, "Man, she IS hot!" 

The team of five, along with the fallen two, returned to their own reality. They then entered the headquarters of the Federal Reality Commission in New York City, where the girl and the cat were being treated. 

The RJ's were standing by their patients' bedsides when they woke up. The girl sat up and screamed, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" 

Puzzled, the five looked at each other. Kim looked at the girl, saying "You OK?" 

The girl looked at the five and said, "Where are they?" 

Chris replied, "Who?" 

The girl couldn't say a word. Apparently she was startled. 

Later the Jumpers grouped in their war room, which was located at the underground level of the FRC building. They were sitting at a table in front of their videocom. On the monitor was the FRC's tech advisor, the person known as "Hacker One." 

"These readings you gave me on the girl and the cat are off the scale." 

Jake replied, "What do you mean?" 

"Well, for one thing, the cat seems to have an ability to think. The intelligence readings are very unusual for an animal." 

"So you're saying....this cat can talk to us?" 

"Doubt it. It can think, but I can't tell if it can communicate with us." 

Kim added, "Gee, you're making it sound the cat is some kind of alien." 

"With the info I have here, I can say that too. Anyway, the girl is another unusual case as well. She has no anomaly signature..." 

Michael spoke up, "That's impossible. Now we can't find out where she comes from." 

"I know that part. The cat doesn't have one either, so it makes it more difficult. Anyway, the girl also seems to be very powerful. She possesses powers that amaze me. The potential readings are off the charts. However, with what I'm working with here, I can conclude she's human." 

Jake said, "Look, get to the main part. Is she the only one that was with her?" 

Silence filled the room for a second or two, when finally Hacker said, "I'm not sure. I'm afraid you'll have to find out for yourselves. I'm giving you clearance to interrogate them. Hacker out." 

A black screen replaced the picture of the man the RJ's were talking to. 

Jake went alone to Interrogation Room 4, where the girl and her cat was held. Once he entered the room, he sat down and said, "Hi, remember me?" 

The girl in the chair replied, "Yeah, you were standing next to my bed with some others. Who were they? Who are you?" 

"Never mind about them for now. Me, my name's Jake. So, what's yours?" 

"My name's Usagi. My friends call me Serena. You can call me that if you want." 

"OK...Serena." 

"Say, you speak Japanese?" 

"Uh...no," Jake pointed to his wrist watch and said, "But this translator helps me understand what you're saying." 

"Oh. Can it help you figure out why I'm here?" 

"No, I wish I could." 

The cat put her head up and said, "Look, you have to get us back to where we were, or the universe is in big trouble!" 

Jake kept a straight face, and said, "Oh, so you CAN talk." 

"You don't seem surprised." 

"I'm not. We knew about you being more than normal." 

"Who's 'we?'" 

"Well, you're in the headquarters of the Federal Reality Commission, the line of defense of the entire dimensional continuum. Impressive, eh?" 

"Yes, I suppose so. By the way, my name is Luna. Anyway, you have to get us back to Tokyo where we belong." 

"That's...uh....bit of a problem." 

Serena replied, "What do you mean?" 

"You see, right now you're in another dimension. That's why you're in the FRC building, so we can figure out which dimension you belong in. You can tell you don't come from here, because, uh, if I remember history, Japan blew up in the great antimatter war of 1984. But that's a bit off topic right now." 

Serena said, "Jake - that is your name, right? - where's all my friends?" 

"There was no one else with you when we found you," Jake's eyes opened wider as he continued, "So there WAS others with you, was there?" 

"We have to find them! Without them, we're all in big trouble!" 

"What do you mean?" 

Luna added, "What she means is, she and a couple of other friends, well, they make up a team. To everyone else, they are known as the Sailor Scouts. Serena here is their leader, Sailor Moon." 

For a half hour Luna explained the story of the famous team that's been defending one universe for so long, and without that team, the universe would be doomed. 

"....and the last words we heard from Queen Beryl were, 'I have bigger things in mind.' And that's how we ended up here." 

Jake, who was now better informed, stood up and said, "She must mean the entire continuum! Of course, she must have scattered all of you, including this Tuxedo Mask person, across a couple of other realities. She knew you couldn't defeat her armies while divided, and this was the only way to split the team apart!" 

Serena replied, "Hmmm, we have to find my friends and major fast before....." 

She stopped in mid-sentence as the room began to shake violently. A portal, like the one the Scouts jumped into earler, opened up out of thin air. Out of it came Queen Beryl. She walked out and said, "So, are we having fun yet?" 

Serena shouted, "You'll never get away with this, Nega-trash! I demand to know where my friends are!" 

"Ah, but that's for me to know and you to never find out!" 

Jake moved in front and said, "So you must be Queen Beryl. Anyway, you heard the lady, let her friends go!" 

Queen Beryl looked at the two behind Jake and said, "Ah, so it looks like you've made a friend. Too bad I have to get rid of him as well." 

With a wave of her hand, a gust of wind blew Jake to one side of the room. 

"Now, Sailor Moon, we have some unfinished business to take care of." 

Serena was in a defense position when she said, "Maybe this will teach you a lesson!" 

She grabbed hold of the tiara on her head, took it off, and said "MOON.....TIARA......MAGIC!" 

The tiara flew through the air, leaving a streak of light behind it. It was heading straight toward her enemy. 

But Queen Beryl was prepared, "I think not!" 

With another wave of her hand, the tiara stopped in mid-air and fell to the floor. 

"Now, where was I? Oh yes, I was going to finish you off!" 

Her hand signaled again, and from it came a beam of energy that was heading straight toward Sailor Moon and Luna. 

Jake, who moved in front of the two, said, "You think that will get rid of us! You got another thing coming!" 

Jake reached into his pocket and grabbed a tiny mirror. Without hesitating, he shouted the command that the mirror recognized, "MIRROR.....REFLECT!" 

The mirror expanded into the shape of a shield. Jake grabbed onto its handle and shielded the three of them from the incoming energy attack. The full impact of the energy beam was absorbed into the shield. Half a second passed before the shield reflected the attack. Queen Beryl was in the way of the reflected energy beam. She took its full impact and was knocked to the ground. 

"Fools! You will never get away with this! This is only the beginning!" 

She retreated into the portal behind her and disappeared from the room. 

Jake turned to Serena, who transformed back into regular clothes, and said, "You OK?" 

"Yeah, just a bit shaken up." 

"Don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine." 

Jake grouped with his Reality Jumpers for a little meeting. He passed on the story Luna passed on to him and added the incident that occured just a few hours ago. 

Chris jumped in, "So what we have to do is find her friends." 

"Exactly, and we have to find them fast. This Queen Beryl may be more powerful than I think she is." 

At night, Serena and Luna walked home with Jake, because they had no place to stay, so Jake didn't hesitate to invite them home. They had a conversation on the way home, where Jake said, "I'm going to start looking for your friends tomorrow." 

Serena replied, "I want to go with you when you find them." 

"It's might be too dangerous." 

"I don't care. I lost them once, I'm not going to lose them again." 

'Well, all right, but you have to be a Reality Jumper as long as you're looking for them." 

"Hey, just call me jumper five!" 

"Ah, so you catch on fast." 

Luna added, "Don't forget about me, you'll need my help." 

"Well then, jumper six, I hope a little cat like you can handle it. 

"You don't have to worry about me. Your problem is this meatball head here!" 

Serena shouted, "Hey! I told you never to call me that!" 

Jake laughed, wondering what was going to happen in the missions to come... 

TO BE CONTINUED....... 


	2. Welcome To The FRC

Episode 2: Welcome to the FRC!

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/FRC fanfic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 2 - Welcome to the FRC! 

"Get up, Serena!" 

"Just wake me up in ten minutes....." 

"You said that twenty minutes ago! Wake up!" 

"You sound like my mother...." 

"Hey, do you want me to get MY mom so she can wake you up?" 

"OK OK! I'm awake." 

It was 8:45 on a Saturday morning. Serena and Luna slept in Jake's house for the night. They both took Jake's bed, while Jake slept on the floor. He didn't mind, except that he couldn't get to sleep because Serena was talking in her sleep. 

At 9:37 the three left the house and headed to the Federal Reality Commission headquarters. It was Serena's first day with the Reality Jumpers, because she knew she could help them locate her missing friends. 

They were inside the building's lobby when they were stopped by two security guards. The first one said, "Stop, only authorized agents allowed!" 

Jake held up his ID card, "Don't worry, they're with me." 

The second guard took Jake's ID card and swiped it through the scanner. The small screen above it showed Jake's agent information and the word "AUTHORIZED" on the top. 

"OK, Junior Agent Tyler, you, your friend and her cat are free to pass." The guard handed the ID card back to Jake and gave a "VISITOR" pass to Serena. 

The three went through two more security checks before they reached the war room of the Reality Jumpers. The four other RJ's, Jackie, Mike, Chris, and Kim, were sitting at a table when the three entered the room. Jackie went up and said, "Hi Jake!" 

"Hi! You all know Serena, right?" 

The four nodded. 

"Well, for a while she's part of the Jumpers. Like I said before, we have to locate her friends, but she'll be helping us in doing that." 

Mike replied, "That's cool. So when do we start?" 

"We start now. Follow me." 

All seven walked out of the room and reached the elevator. Jake pushed "83" on the elevator panel. After a minute traveling up the building, they exited the elevator and followed Jake into a room labeled "DIMENSIONAL TRAVEL 8." 

Jake said to the others, "All of you are going to travel to the coordinates I assign you to. These coordinates are the places where non-signature readings have been found. Hopefully you'll be able to locate the missing scouts." 

Chris replied, "This should be easy, then." 

"No it isn't. There's like a thousand places with areas that have no anomaly signatures in it. We're going to be working in this room for a long time. Right now we're checking just a few sites. We'll all split up and return back here at five. Kim, you take Luna with you. Me and Serena will be together. Jackie, Mike, Chris, you'll be together." 

They all agreed as one man walked into the room. He said, "Well well, if it isn't the famous Reality Jumpers....." 

Jake mumbled, "Senator Dreyfus.....what's this creep doing here?" 

"Did I hear you say something, Tyler?" 

"No, it was all part of your imagination." 

Chris spoke up, "What are YOU doing here, Senator?" 

"Ah, Agent Davis. I just came to wish you luck on your mission...." 

"And to tell us how much it's going to cost you?" 

"No, of course not!" At that moment, Dreyfus frowned and reached into his pocket and crumpled up a piece of paper. Jake noticed the word "EXPENSES" written on it. Jake replied, "Look, could you just leave? We're trying to start a mission here." 

"Well, it seems I am not welcome here." 

"You never were." 

"Fine, I'll leave then...." He quickly left the room and slammed the door behind him. 

Luna lifted her head and said, "What was all that about?" 

Mike replied, "Him? Oh he just nags us about how 'expensive' our missions are." 

Chris added, "That and many other things. His opinions are interesting, considering that we rank 28th out of all the FRC teams in cost..." 

"He's just looking for an excuse to hang around us." 

Jake said, "Well, can we finally start the mission?" 

They all nodded as Jake flipped the ON/OFF switch on the panel next to him. A machine on the other side of the room made some noise signaling it was turned on and ready. At the panel, Jake entered a group of numbers. A portal opened to the left of the machine. 

"All right, jumpers one, two, and three, go in. Good luck!" 

Jackie, Mike, and Chris each took a supply pack, jumped into the portal and disappeared. Jake entered another set of coordinates, changing the destination of the portal. 

"Kim and Luna, go for it!" 

Kim, while holding Luna, also got a pack, jumped in and disappeared. 

Jake entered the final set of coordinates and said, "Computer, auto-close-portal-delay-2-minutes." He then grabbed another supply pack, went up to Serena and said, "C'mon, let's go." 

"In......there?" 

"Of course in there. It's not as scary as it looks." 

"But it's dark in there!" 

"If it makes you feel any better, there's light on the other side. You do want to find your friends, do you?" 

"All right, then. Um.....you go in first." 

"Fine." 

Jake leaped into the portal, and Serena followed behind him. Once inside the portal, they experienced the "displacement" effect, where a person traveling through a portal experiences what people call a "brain freeze" for a second, and it wasn't pleasant in any way. But the trip through reality only took 3 seconds. They had reached the area that contained an entity with no anomaly signature. 

It was noon in the Grand Canyon, when the portal Jake and Serena were using opened up in the sky. The two were screaming as they fell straight to the ground from 20 feet off the ground. They laid unconscious for 20 minutes before they woke up. Jake said to Serena, "Umph....ow.....you OK?" 

Serena replied, "OW, my leg! What does it look like?" 

"OK, dumb question. Give me a minute." 

Jake reached into the backpack of supplies and found a medikit. With it, he treated the wound on Serena's leg. "There. Can you walk now?" 

"Let me see." She attempted to stand, but was forced back down. "No, I can't. It's still hurts!" And with that remark she started crying. 

"Aw, don't cry. C'mon, it's not gonna make you feel any better." 

But Serena didn't stop crying. 

"OK, let me see if this works..." 

He grabbed a stick from the medikit and unfolded it into a flexible pole. "Hold still," Jake said. He placed the pole next to Serena's leg and pressed a button on its small panel. The pole wrapped around the leg and covered it. "OK, you can stand now." 

Serena finally stopped crying and tried to stand up. With some amazement, she was able to stand. "Hey! I....can walk! How'd you do that?" 

"Oh it was nothing. That cast should be able to fix the sore muscle in your leg. You can take it off in an hour or two, but you can't run on it." 

"Thanks! Say, does that portal always throws us out of the sky?" 

"Once in a while. You have to learn how to handle this kind of stuff. Welcome to the FRC!" 

"Oh....great...." 

"C'mon, let's go scan the area. Here's a scanner." Jake turned on the scanner to track their target. To his surprise, the scanner displayed that their target was on a cliff 5 feet above them. He looked up and saw a man. 

"Hey, who are you?" Jake said to the person that was standing right above them. 

The person replied, "I am sent by the NegaVerse to destroy you." 

Both Serena and Jake said, "Eh?" 

The man didn't hesitate. The man leaped into the air and drew a sword. The two ran in opposite directions as the person landed on his feet. He stood straight, turned to Jake, and said, "Goodbye, Tyler..." He pointed his sword at Jake and from it came an energy beam, one that is similar to the one Queen Beryl used to attack Serena and Luna yesterday. 

Jake thought, "Oh great, here we go again..." He reached for his mirror, held it in his hands, and said, "MIRROR....REF...." He couldn't finish the voice command, because the energy beam hit his hand, knocking the mirror out of his reach. 

The man said, "We know better than that now." He fired another energy beam, which hit Jake's shoulder as he was knocked to the ground. 

Jake tried to look beyond his enemy to see Serena as he said, "Owww....hey, you plan on helping any minute now?" 

Serena stood up and replied, "Oh! That's right!.............MOON STAR POWER!" 

And with that Serena transformed into Sailor Moon. The man turned around and said, "Eh?" 

"I am Sailor Moon, champion of justice! In the name of the moon, I will right wrongs and punish evil, and that means you!" 

Jake thought, "Man, if we said stuff like that, we'd all be dead....." 

The person said, "Well well, looks like I'll have to get rid of you...." He created another energy beam which flew toward Sailor Moon. Fortunately, she avoided the incoming attack by jumping to the left. She fell to the ground, though, because her leg was still not repaired. She noticed the big hole in the rock wall that was caused by the energy beam. 

She turned to the man and said, "Well then..." Out of nowhere, she grabbed hold of a sceptre and said, "MOON....SCEPTRE....ELIMINATION!" The sceptre then put out a great deal of energy and was heading toward the man withthe sword. Once it hit him, he was pushed back and was thrown toward the edge of a cliff, greatly weakened. 

Jake limped to the edge of the cliff and said, "Who ARE you?" 

The man replied weakly, "I don't know......where am I?" 

"You don't know anyone named Queen Beryl?" 

"W-who's that?" 

Just then, the ledge below the unknown person gave way, where the man fell into the bottom of the canyon to his death. 

Sailor Moon transformed back into Serena, walked up to Jake, and said, "What was that all about?" 

Jake replied, "If I knew.......but I think he was brainwashed by the NegaVerse to get us...Oh yeah, thanks for saving me." 

"Hey, now we're even." 

"C'mon, we got a lot more area to cover before seven." 

"Aw, can't we just take a break? My leg still hurts." 

"All right, then." 

Jake found his mirror and put it back in his pocket. He then reached into his supply backpack and got two rations for lunch. 

At that moment, Queen Beryl was in the NegaVerse watching Jake and Serena from a viewing portal, examining the entire battle from her seat. She said, "Hmmm, they seem to make a good team. I think it's time to even up the score now...." 

TO BE CONTINUED.... 


	3. Team Two, Report!

Episode 3: Team Two, Report!

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/FRC Fanfic 

by Roehl Sybing 

Episode 3: "Team Two, Report!" 

"Can we stop walking around for just ONE minute?" the black cat named Luna said as she dropped to the ground, exhausted from walking for about an hour on a street outside a city. Luna and Kim were sent by Jake to investigate the non-anomaly signature, assuming there is a chance that these sightings are the missing Sailor Scouts. 

"Aw, come on, Luna. Didn't you ever teach your Scouts about discipline and hard work?" 

"This is just wandering aimlessly throughout an area we have no idea about." 

"OK, then we'll find out about it." 

Kim opened up her scanner as it displayed, "OUTER CITY LIMITS, MIAMI, FLORIDA." She showed the status to Luna and said, "See?" 

Luna replied, "Well that explains why it's so hot. Are we even sure one of our missing friends are here?" 

"Maybe, maybe not," she looked at her scanner again. The yellow blip on the scanner the two were supposed to be finding disappeared. Kim added, "Hmmm, our target seems to have disappeared from this universe...." 

"Um, is this what you Americans mean by, 'We've been suckered?'" 

"Yes, it is. D*mn! C'mon, let's go back." 

"Hey, didn't Jake say we should be back by five?" 

"Yeah, and it's only three. Well, what do you want to do for the next two hours?" 

"I was thinking lunch. Serena didn't feed me back at the house this morning." 

"All right, but it's another half hour's walk to the city." 

"I guess I can handle more walking for awhile." 

The two continued to walk toward the city. After a few minutes, Kim laughed a little and said, "So, cat, how long you think before, you know, Jake and Serena get together?" 

Luna was very surprised at the question, "WHAT?" 

"Oh c'mon, he has the hots for her! Why do you think Jake invited you two to stay at his house, hm?" 

"We had no place to stay!" 

"And what about when he walked you two to the FRC building?" 

"We didn't know where it was....." 

"AND what about when Serena went with Jake to do their first mission?" 

"This is all just coincidence! We've only known you for what, a day?" 

"Then you don't know Jake. Connect Jake up with a 'hot girl (as he and Mike would like to put it)' like Serena, something's bound to happen." 

"I can assure you that Serena is more mature than that. Did it ever occur to you that Serena doesn't like Jake?" 

"Yeah, OK....." 

"Fine, I'm lying then." 

"I mean, they're obviously perfect for each other. Both the leaders of their own teams, both seen a lot of action, both the same age, both saved each other's life....." 

"OK OK, maybe they would be....attracted to each other. But last time I checked, she WAS in love with Darien...." 

"Oh, you mean another one of those people we have to find? What is his name again, Tuxedo....." 

".....Mask. His name is Tuxedo Mask." 

"Well then, remind me not to put him and Jake in the same room together..." 

The girl and the cat were quiet during the rest of the walk to Miami. Once they were inside the city, they noticed something was wrong. Everyone in the city were screaming and running away. A few dead bodies occupied the city streets. Police cars were smashed and turned over. A firestorm has taken over three nearby buildings. 

The two looked around and saw the wreckage. Kim said, "What happened here?" 

Just then, a small kid came running down the street, crying. It went up to Kim and cried, "HEEEEEEEEEELP!" 

Kim replied, "What's going on, kid?" 

"T-t-there's this big man d-destroying the place! He has buh-buh-big fire red eyes, and and and fire c-comes out of 'em! Don't let 'im g-g-get me!" 

"Where'd he go?" 

The girl pointed west into a distant alley and ran away. 

Luna said, "It must be from the NegaVerse! C'mon, we have to destroy it!" 

"With what?" 

"I don't know. We'll think of something." 

They walked into the alley and saw the youma-just like the girl described-cornering two innocent people against a wall. He gave a little laugh and, just for fun, fired small flames around them. He was just about to incinerate the civilians, when Kim shouted, "Get away from them!" 

The youma turned around, saw the girl and the cat, and started to chase after them. Luna added, "Uh....I think we'd better run!" 

The two, along with the youma right behind them, hurried back out into the street. The entity chasing the two were firing beams of fire at them. One of those beams hit Kim's left foot, causing her to trip and land into the street curb. Luna stood right on top of her and said, "C'mon get up!" 

"Ow.....would you mind if you get off me first?!?" 

"Oh, that's right..." 

After the cat got off, Kim noticed a turned over fire truck with a water hose sticking out. She looked at her opponent and the fire truck and said, "What luck! Luna, follow me...." 

With Kim's foot still being sore, she limped to the abandoned truck and grabbed the water hose. She pointed at the valve on the truck and said, "Luna, can you turn that clockwise?" 

"Let me see...." The cat jumped onto the valve and, with all her strength, was able to move it to the right. Water started gushing out of the hose. Kim shouted, "Awright! Eat this, idiot!" At that moment Kim pointed the hose directly toward the youma. Water was coming straight toward him. But the creature didn't hesitate to counter the water; fire came shooting out of his eyes and went toward the water flow. The fire beams blocked the water from ever touching him. 

"Uh-oh, it didn't work!" Kim screamed. She put the hose down, grabbed Luna, and ran. Again, the youma chased them down the street. After a few twisting turns across the city, Kim ran out of breath and stopped at Fifth Avenue. "Great, just great. W-what do we do now?" 

Luna replied, "There must be something about water that thing doesn't like. Otherwise he wouldn't use fire against it." 

"Yeah, but what are we gonna do?" 

Luna looked around and noticed a small, abandoned store with a small ledge above it at the next intersection. On the ground in front of the store was an unopened bottle of water. The cat said, "Get that water bottle over there. I've got a plan..." 

The youma was able to retrace his steps and reach Fifth Avenue. He found no sighting of the two he was chasing. He wandered around the street for a while, eventually walking in front of the store at the intersection. The creature was certain the girl and the cat were here, but where did they go? Just then, the unnoticed Luna jumped off the ledge, landed on the youma, and scratched his eyes. Blinded, he screamed loudly for a minute, but then he was able to open his eyes. Once he opened them, he saw Kim right in front of him. 

"SURPRISE!" Kim said. She then opened the bottle of water and splashed it right in front of his face. The monster fell down and let out a very loud scream. Within seconds he turned into dust. 

Kim looked on the ground and said, "We won?!? That was it?!?" 

The cat replied, "Yes, it seems we have defeated our opponent." 

Obviously shaken up, Kim sat on the curb and said, "*Phew*, I'm glad that was over..." 

"Me too. But could you do me a favor?" 

"What's that?" 

"I haven't eaten anything yet!" 

"Oh, that's right! Oh, but all I have is this melted candy bar in my pocket...." 

"Fine, I'll take anything!" 

Kim opened the candy bar and fed it to Luna. After a minute, she smiled and said, "Say, we make a great team, don't we?" 

"Mmmm, yes, I suppose so..." 

"Hey, I wonder what Jackie, Chris, and Mike are doing right now...." 

"You're kidding!" Mike said. 

"Take a look at my face. Does it look like I'm lying?" Jackie replied. 

Chris added, "Not at all. So one of the Jane Doe's in that hospital matches one of the missing Scouts?" 

"Yeah, non-anomaly and all! Let me see, it matches the description of, what's her name, Min....Minako." 

Mike asked, "Is she hot?" 

Jackie hit Mike on the head and replied, "Shut up, man!" 

Chris looked up and said, "OK, now that she's in the hospital, how are we gonna get her OUT?" 

TO BE CONTINUED...... 


	4. Hospital Break

Issue 4: Hospital Break

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/FRC Fanfic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Epsiode 4: Hospital Break 

Chris, Mike, and Jackie entered the hospital and headed toward the front desk. The nurse behind the desk noticed the three kids and asked, "May I help you?" 

Chris replied, "Yes, one of our, um, friends, might be here?" 

"Yeah, she was with us last night," Jackie added, "We thought she went home, but she wasn't, so we thought she was missing, and so we think she's here..." 

The nurse said, "OK, who is this 'she' we are talking about?" 

Mike jumped in, "Her name is Minako Aino. A-I-N-O, I think. Everyone else calls her Mina." 

The nurse typed in the name on the computer next to her, and after a few moments the monitor displayed "NO MATCH." 

The nurse said, "No one by that name here. Maybe she's a Jane Doe. Could you describe her for me?" 

The three thought back to how Serena described her friend, while Chris replied, "OK, she's 14, has blonde hair, blue eyes, and we last saw her with a sailor suit on." 

She typed the characteristics in and got a match: 

Name: Jane Doe 

Medical history: Unknown 

Age: Unknown, probably 14-16 

Hair: Blonde 

Eyes: Blue 

Condition: Multiple wounds around body, concussion to head 

"OK, she's on the fourth floor, room 18-A. The elevator is on your second left, from the elevator go straight to the right and you'll reach the nursing station. Ask where's 18-A to the person there and they'll take you there," the nurse said. 

Chris, Mike, and Jackie all followed the directions and reached the nursing station. The man behind the desk had an ID card on his shirt that said, "DR. WILLIAM FINNEGAN." He asked, "Can I help you?" 

Jackie replied, "Could you take us to room 18-A?" 

"That room has a Jane Doe in it, is she one of your friends?" 

The three nodded. 

"OK, then follow me." 

A few twists and turns through the fourth floor led the three and the doctor to room 18-A, where their missing person is. She was wearing a hospital frock while laying on a bed, asleep. Dr. Finnegan said, "The police found her at the docks late last night, and she was taken here. I tried to talk to her this morning when she first woke up, but she wasn't speaking in English. Are you sure that this is your friend?" 

Mike replied, "Yeah. Could you wake her up for us?" 

The doctor didn't need to, because the girl on the bed was already awake at the sound of the doctor's voice. A little weak, she said, "What's going on?" 

The three realized it was their wrist translators doing the translation, but the doctor said, "Hey, you DO speak English." 

"English?" 

Jackie turned to the doctor and said, "Uh, could we talk to her alone?" 

"Well, alright. I'll be at my station if you need me." The doctor then left the room. 

The girl said, "Who ARE you?" 

Chris stood in front and asked, "Um.....Minako, right?" 

Mina was surprised, saying, "H-how did you know my name?" 

"We all know about you and the rest of the Sailor Scouts. You are, what was that, Sailor Venus, right?" 

Mina, who was more surprised, nodded and asked, "How did you know about all that?" 

Chris, Mike, and Jackie helped explain the long story (* as in the story of Issue 1). 

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Back at the nursing station, Finnegan was looking through some of the case files involving his patients. He was then interrupted when a man in military clothing came up to the desk. The man had the words "UC ARMY" printed on his shirt. The doctor recognized the man and asked, "What do you want now?" 

"The military is requesting that we take your Jane Doe the police found on the docks last night." 

"How did you learn about that patient?" 

"Oh come on, Doctor. The United Community is aware of every move everyone makes." 

"Why do you want the girl anyway?" 

"We got hold of some of the medical charts from this hospital. They reveal her to be above normal than usual, and so some of our scientists want her." 

"She isn't a specimen, you know." 

The man pointed a gun at Finnegan and said, "The military says she is. Hand her over." 

"You won't get away with this, you know." 

"I have so far, Doctor," the man with the gun added. He directed the doctor out of his seat and said, "Take me to her or I'll shoot you." 

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"OK, so Serena and you guys have joined together?" Mina asked. 

"Yeah, sort of." Mike replied. 

Jackie spoke, "Look, we have to get you out of this dimension." 

"Well, I can't be in any more danger than I am in now, right? So how do we get out of here?" 

"With this little thing," Jackie said as she reached into her pocket. But nothing was there. She said, "Hey, it's gone! The device is gone!" 

Mike screamed at Jackie, "WHAT? HOW COULD YOU LOSE THE TRACK-AND-RETURN DEVICE?!?" 

"Sorry! I knew my pocket felt a little empty when we entered the city...." 

Mina said, "What's a....track-and-return device?" 

Chris added, "It's the mechanism that returns us to our own reality. Now we CAN'T get back." 

"Look. All we gotta do is go back to where we landed. Hopefully it's there." 

"What if someone picked it up?" 

"Yeah right. There was no one around for a mile!" 

"Well then, I guess we have to walk all the way there." 

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All four walked out of the room and into the hallway. They met up with the man holding the gun up to Dr. Finnegan. The man pointed at Mina and said, "Hey, aren't you the one they found on the docks?" 

"Uh oh. We're in trouble..." they all thought. 

"I've been ordered to take you with me, so...." 

Finnegan shouted, "RUN! ALL OF YOU!" 

The four ran the other way, with the man running after them. While chasing the four kids down, the man talked into his communicator, "Units 1 and 2, secure the first floor." After a flight down the stairs, they were able to lose their enemy. They quickly entered the elevator and pushed the button marked "B" for basement garage. 

"Garage? What for?" 

Mike added, "I got a plan..." 

Once inside the basement, they looked throughout the garage and noticed an ambulance with its left door open. They all crammed inside the ambulance. Mina said, "Great, we don't have any keys!" 

"Keys? What for?" Mike said, "Jackie, give me a paper clip." 

She handed a paper clip to Mike, who unfolded it into a small metal wire. Within seconds, he was able to start the car with the wire. 

Chris asked, "You DO remember how to drive a car, right?" 

Mike didn't answer, as he drived the car out of the garage and into the street. A military-colored car noticed the four kids in the ambulance, realized it was the four the soldier in the hospital was talking about, and quickly pursued them. Mike shouted, "Oh great, they're after us!" and quickly hit the right pedal. The speedometer reached 55 once the ambulance made a right turn while hitting a parked car on the corner. Obviously they were trying to reach their point of origin. 

Jackie shouted, "Hey speed racer, you plan on drawing less attention to ourselves?" 

"Obviously you don't notice the car behind us, do you?" 

"The car at the back is running at 40!" 

They were able to lost the car, but upon reaching the guarded exit of the city, a helicopter came flying in right above the car, following its every move. Every few seconds or so it was firing its guns on the ambulance. It was able to damage the roof and the windshield of the ambulance. 

Mina opened the window on the right at looked at the helicopter. She put her hand back inside the vehicle and said, "We gotta get rid of this helicopter...........VENUS POWER!" 

She quickly transformed into Sailor Venus in front of the other three kids. From the view of the helicopter, the pilot saw a blinding flash of light coming from the damaged ambulance. 

"You're going to help?" Chris asked. 

"Yeah, leave this helicopter to me!" She put her head out of the window again and shouted, "VENUS CRESCENT V, SMASH!" A powerful beam was fired from Sailor Venus' fingers and impacted upon the helicopter. With fire from the damaged part of the helicopter quickly surrounding the flying object, it crashed straight into the ground and exploded. The four all shouted, "YES!" 

But their problems weren't over. In the distance appeared a group of police and military vehicles blocking the ambulance from continuing. 

Mike said, "Hm, they think we're going that way!" The ambulance drove off the road, avoiding the enemy. Once their opponents noticed that they made a left turn, they quickly followed them. 

Once the vehicle traveled a mile off the road, Chris noticed a small object on the ground, "Hey, it's our TAR device!" 

Mike quickly hit the brakes and stopped the ambulance. The four exited the car while Jackie grabbed the small device on the ground. She hit the red button on the panel of the TAR device. A portal opened out of thin air right next to the four. Mike grabbed Sailor Venus by the hand and said, "C'mon, let's get out of here!" They all jumped into the portal and disappeared. 

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Once the group of cars were able to reach the abandoned ambulance, the squad quickly searched the area, failing to find a single trace of their targets. Another car reached the area, and from it came Dr. Finnegan and the soldier from the hospital. The two were greeted by another man in military clothing. He said, "There's no sign of them. It's like they've disappeared off the face of the Earth." 

The doctor said, "Well, I'm glad they got away. They don't need to be researched on by the likes of the United Community." 

"That's for us to decide. As for you, we must ask of your absolute silence in this matter." 

"Of course, I have.....always stayed quiet about your affairs." 

"Yes, but it appears you've been involved in too many of our affairs..." The man pulled a gun out and shot Dr. Finnegan in the head. He turned to the soldier and said, "Go on, you're dismissed." 

TO BE CONTINUED...... 


	5. State of Emergency

Episode 5: State of Emergency

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 5: "State of Emergency" 

The digital clock on the wall in "DIMENSIONAL TRAVEL 8" displayed 16:59.41. In twenty seconds it turned five, as the machine on the far left of the room automatically turned on. A portal opened up inside of it, and out of it came Kim and Luna, who were thrown to the floor by the portal. In seconds it closed, while Kim tried to stand up. She said, "Ow, we gotta get that thing fixed...." 

The cat named Luna replied, "Yeah, whoever said cats always land on their feet...." 

She stopped in mid-sentence as the portal opened again. This time Jake and Serena walked out of it. They noticed the two on the ground as Jake asked, "Portal broken again?" 

Kim said, "Oh be quiet....ouch...." 

"Luna, what are you doing on the floor like that?" Serena pointed out. 

"I'm doing flips, what does it look like?" 

Jake and Serena laughed a little as the portal opened again. It was Chris, Mike, and Jackie coming out of it, and behind them was Mina, who was in costume as Sailor Venus. Without noticing the other four, Jackie said, "Man, remind me never to go there again. We almost got killed!" 

Mina looked around the room and saw Serena and Luna, as she said, "Serena?!?" 

Serena turned around and noticed Mina, "Mina? They found you?" 

They both smiled and gave each other a big hug. The others might have noticed a few tears coming out of their eyes. 

Mike went up to Jake and said, "Split apart for only a day and already they miss each other." 

"Yeah, well....how did you find, what's her name?" 

"Mina. And it's a long story. I'll tell you about it later." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The team of now eight headed back to their war room. They were in front of the videocom, again conferencing with Hacker One. He said, "Well then, welcome to the Jumpers, Mina. I assure you that this is only a temporary job until we find the rest of the Scouts." 

Mina replied, "Thank you, sir." 

Jake stood up, "Hacker, that's supposed to be my line!" 

"YOUR line? Anyway, on other affairs...I read your report about the little incident yesterday. It mentions about a tiara?" 

"Yeah, mine," Serena replied. 

"Hmm, well I'd be interested in examining this little head accessory, if you don't mind..." 

"Sure!" 

"Very well. Ask Chris to drop it off at my lab later. Hacker out." 

The videocom turned off. 

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A half hour later the team exited the FRC building and walked to the nearest fast-food place. 

"OK," Serena said while looking at the picture menu, "I'll have two of that, one of that, three of those, hey those look good (hehe), one of that..." 

Everybody, including the cashier, was staring at her place the order. Jake whispered to Mina, "Is she always like that?" 

"You should see her back home...." 

After the other six, including Kim, who was ordering for Luna, placed their order, they got their food and sat down at a table for dinner. While they were eating, Serena asked, "Yum, hey Mina, where's Artemis?" 

Mina looked up, "I thought he was with YOU!" 

Mike thought, "Ho boy, we're in trouble...." 

"Uh, pass the fries; who's....Artemis?" Chris said. 

Luna replied, "Artemis...is a white cat. He's Minako's guardian." 

Jake said, "Another one we have to find?" 

"Exactly. And we have to find him quickly too. He might be in more trouble than the others." 

Mike asked, "Why is that?" 

Jackie sighed and said, "MIKE! Cat! Small size! Take a guess!" 

"All right, all right! Geez..." 

Luna turned to Chris and asked, "Are they always like that?" 

"You should see them as a team..." 

Jake said, "Don't worry. We'll find him, along with the rest of the t...." 

He was interrupted by the sound of beeping. It was coming from his left pocket. He reached into his pocket and said, "Hold on, it's my pager." 

He looked at the message with some surprise. Jake said, "C'mon, let's go! Trouble at the FRC!" The main Jumpers, except for Jake, reached for their jackets and ran out the door. 

Mina asked, "What's going on?" 

"Level three emergency back at the headquarters! Let's move!" 

"OK!" Mina and Serena said. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

At a running speed, it took them five minutes to get back to the building. All eight entered the lobby, but it was too late. Everything was in ruins. The two guards that greeted Jake and Serena earlier that morning were on the floor and unconscious. A water sprinkler on the ceiling was gushing water. The panel behind the guard's desk was damaged and letting out sparks. Everything else was either damaged or inoperable. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Just then, a speaker in one corner of the lobby turned on, "Team forty-one, *bzzt*-port to the main *crackle* room *bzzt*-diately!" 

Chris shouted, "That's us! C'mon!" 

They all followed Chris throughout the first floor into the main command center. On their way to the room, both Serena and Mina transformed, saying: 

"MOON STAR POWER!" 

"VENUS POWER!" 

In seconds they were Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus. They all reached the room and saw the technical staff of forty-one, with Hacker One standing over someone's monitor. He turned around and said, "Glad you guys came. We have a bit of trouble here." 

Jake said, "A bit?!? Didn't you see the lobby?" 

"Yeah, bu that's the least of our problems. Take a look at this." 

They all grouped in front of the radar. "This is a reading of the inter-dimensional traffic just fifteen minutes ago. If you notice, the readings jump up by 250%. That's over 45 entities than normal. Usually that wouldn't be a threat, but that group of entities warped into the main lobby. They were looking for you guys. Their leader was a lady in some funny-looking clothing." 

"Queen Beryl..." all eight thought. 

The man in the seat, one of Hacker's staff, added, "They did a lot of damage to the first floor, but we were able to hold them off. Another one of the tech staff just happened to walk by the lobby and notice what was happening. She was able to use the emergency evacuation device for the lobby to activate a portal in the lobby. The portal sucked everyone, except her and two of the guards, inside." 

Jake asked, "Where are they now?" 

Another of the staff said, "Right now, they're along the west coast of the Californian islands. Readings indicate they're heading back toward the New York region within thirty minutes." 

Hacker continued, "We've asked the military to issue a full nationwide state of emergency. With the firepower they've got, they've been able to hold off the, what's it called, Nega...Verse at the coast, but reports show that casualties are high. They're not going to hold it off any longer." 

"What're we gonna do?" Kim said. 

"Well, I've scattered every squad across the country. I've equipped them with portable dimensional devices (* used to activate a portal to send the entity back to whatever reality they came from, but takes a great deal of energy), it should cut the enemy numbers in half if we're lucky, but already three attack teams have been disabled. The Planetary Guard is deploying some of their best rocketbelt men to defend this building, but that'll take them between ten and forty minutes to get here." 

Jake replied, "Wow, you've done a lot in fifteen minutes." 

Hacker smiled, "Isn't that my job?" He walked over to a map that contained the blueprints of the building and said, "I want your Jumpers to secure the top floor of the building. Serena and M - I mean, Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus - I want you to use whatever powers you have to fend the NegaVerse off." 

Sailor Venus looked up and replied, "We've been doing that for two years, don't worry about us!" 

"I hope I won't have to...." 

Someone stood out of his seat, turned to Hacker One, and shouted, "Boss, military forces haven't been able to hold off the enemy! I read over thirty entities airborne, currently over the Extended Pacific Ocean, moving at thirty-five hundred miles per hour! Readings indicate they will be here in under twenty minutes." 

Hacker looked in panic for half a minute, and finally said, "OK, move all of the remaining attack squads back here so we can secure the building. Let the military clean up what the NegaVerse left behind." He turned to the Jumpers and continued, "You can see how much trouble we're in right now. Go, secure the top floor and intercept the enemy from there." 

Just as the eight were about to leave, Hacker said, "Wait, keep the cat here. It's too dangerous." 

Luna looked up at Hacker and said, "Oh, c'mon. Let me go with them." 

Sailor Moon thought about it and said, "Luna, stay here." 

"Serena!" 

"No," Jake added, "She's right. You'd better stay here." 

"Oh all right, I just hope you know what you're doing...." 

The team of seven left the room, leaving Luna, Hacker and his tech staff in the room. Hacker said to Luna, "You think they stand a chance?" 

"I hope so. Or else we're all finished!" 

"True," he turned to his men and said, "How much time estimated before they arrive?" 

"Eighteen minutes, sir." 

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Once they were on the roof, the Jumpers, along with Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus, performed a total checklist. 

"Long range automatics?" 

"Check." 

"Photon lasers?" 

"Checked." 

"Portable force fields?" 

"Double check." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Time?" 

"T-minus fourteen minutes and thirty seconds, sir." 

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"Mini-flame thrower?" 

"Ready!" 

"ElecGun?" 

"Yep." 

"Water cannon?" 

"Armed!" 

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"Sir, t-minus nine minutes and ten seconds." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Moon tiara?" 

"Here!" 

"Crescent V?" 

"Ready to be fired!" 

"Mirror Reflect Shield?" 

"Got it!" 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Three minutes exactly, sir." 

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"OK, we're all armed with the right equipment, right?" 

"RIGHT!" 

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"Sir, I read our attack teams coming into the region." 

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Chris was looking through a pair of binoculars as he said, "Hey, they're flying in!" 

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"Team one, reporting." 

"Team two, reporting." 

"Team three, reporting." 

"Team four, reporting." 

............................... 

"Team fifteen, reporting." 

"Reserve team, reporting and awaiting request for backup." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Sir, the enemy is approaching!" 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Hey guys, I see a bunch of flying objects but it looks like they ain't our side!" 

Sailor Moon took the binoculars, looked through them, and said, "Hey, the one in front looks like Queen Beryl!" 

It appeared to everyone that it was the NegaVerse's forces. It must've, because on their approach to the building, they took out three attack teams with a single energy beam. They were a quarter of a mile away from the building, but they were in sight. Sailor Venus said, "I'll try to take care of these..." 

"VENUS....CRESCENT V.....SMASH!" 

The energy beam that came out of Sailor Venus' hand flew across the sky and headed straight toward the incoming objects. But the team saw Queen Beryl absorb the energy beam with her hand. With a little laugh, she aimed it right back at the Jumpers. It took a direct hit on the edge of the roof, almost hitting one of the Jumpers. 

Kim stood up and said, "We gotta take out her army 'fore we get rid of her!" She reached for her fire gun and pulled its trigger. Small amounts of ignited jelly fired from the gun and impacted on one of Queen Beryl's youma, causing his to disintegrate and disappear. 

"Got one," Kim said. 

The youma were coming closer and stopped within a thousand feet of the building. Chris took a quick count of the enemy. "Twenty-one," he thought, "Including Queen Beryl..." 

Queen Beryl was just about to give the signal to fire upon the Jumpers, but a group of small ships moved in between the two groups. The RJ's comms sounded, "Team fourteen, take attack position C to intercept threat." 

The squad of nine fighter planes formed a square and fired their guns at full force upon the NegaVerse threat. Four or five from the NegaVerse were taken out by the time all nine ships were destroyed by Queen Beryl and her team. They returned their attention on the Jumpers. Another energy beam came from Queen Beryl's hand. Jake reached into his pocket to get his mirror. He got it out and screamed, 

"MIRROR....REFLECT!" 

The mirror extended to absorb and reflect the incoming energy beam. But it missed the enemy by a couple of feet. 

Sailor Moon turned to Jackie and asked, "Hey, that gun, it fires lightning, right?" 

"Right. Why?" 

"Fire it at my tiara right after I throw it." 

"Why would I do that?" 

"JUST TRUST ME, ALL RIGHT?!?" 

"OK OK...." 

Sailor Moon took the tiara off her head and shouted, 

"MOON TIARA.....MAGIC!" 

After the tiara left Sailor Moon's hand, Jackie reached for her gun and aimed it at the tiara. The electricity and the tiara joined together, making it an even more powerful attack toward Queen Beryl. Leaving a streak of light behind it, the tiara hit Queen Beryl and her crew, taking out another eleven men from the group. There were only four beside Queen Beryl. All four fired at the Jumpers, knocking Chris to the ground. 

"Argh!" he said "Take this, creep!" He then reached for his water cannon and fired it at the remaining youma. Water came spitting out of the weapon at a hundred miles an hour. Chris directed it at the remaining four, knocking them unconscious as they fell to the ground. Once they hit the city street, they were covered by some sort of darkness as they disappeared. 

The only enemy left was Queen Beryl, and every gun and weapon from the Jumpers and the remaining attack teams were aimed at her. She looked around and said, "You'll never get away with this! I'll be back!" 

A portal opened in front of Queen Beryl. She entered it and disappeared. Every thing was quiet once again, except that their comms activated again, "Mission accomplished. Attack teams out." 

The fighter planes flew away, leaving the Reality Jumpers, the two Sailor Scouts (who transformed back into Serena and Mina), and a setting sun the only ones in the area. 

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It was dark an hour later, when the Jumpers were debriefed and were escorted out of the FRC building. News crews from channels 4, 6, 7, 8 and 11 were swarming in front of the entrance to the building. Microphones were shoved in front of the seven as reporters were requesting a statement. The eight didn't say a word as they were brought to a car that was to take them back to Jake's house. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Back at Jake's house, everyone was sitting down having a drink. Mike was applying first aid to Chris' shoulder, where the blast hit him. 

"OW!" 

"Hold still, will ya? You're gonna make it hurt more if you don't." 

"Yeah, I know." 

Jake said, "You know what? I was almost scared to death today!" 

"Now you know how dangerous the NegaVerse is," Luna replied. 

"Well I guess we gotta stick together from now on when we're looking for these Scouts," Jackie added. 

Kim said, "Yeah, we could've gotten killed when we were on the roof before." 

"Jake," Serena stood up, "You have anything to eat? I'm starving!" 

"Is that ALL you ever think about, Serena?" Mina asked. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

By midnight everyone was asleep in Jake's house. That night Jake had a short dream. He was in some sort of a courtyard. In this dream, he asked, "Where am I?" 

"You're asleep," a voice called out. The voice came from a lady on the other side of the courtyard. 

"Who are you?" 

"My name is Queen Serenity." 

"Do I, uh, know you?" 

"No, you don't, but you're a friend of my daughter." 

"And who is that?" 

"Usagi is my daughter." 

"Usagi? Oh, you must mean Serena, right? Didn't know she was royalty." 

"I want to thank you for taking care of my daughter the past day." 

"It was nothing, really." 

"Look after her carefully for me while you're searching for the others. The journey ahead of you is long and dangerous, and you must brave that challenge." 

"What challenge are you talking about?" 

"Think about that, Jake. I must leave now." 

A white light surrounded the person known as Queen Serenity as she disappeared. 

Jake screamed, "Wait! Why are you here? Why am I here?" 

He left his dream as he stood up, awoken. He was wondering what that dream was about. "Serena, daughter of Queen Serenity?" Jake thought. "But that would make her....a princess." He thought about that for a moment and added, "Nah, that can't be. It was just a dream, right?" He looked up at Serena sleeping in Jake's bed. Jake smiled as he put his blanket over Serena and went to sleep. 

TO BE CONTINUED........ 


	6. Love in New York City

Epsiode 6: Love in New York City

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Epsiode 6: "Love in New York City" 

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NewsNetLink 

Subj: Battle in the Sky 

by Johnathan Crawford 

The Federal Reality Commission - the main defense for the dimensional continuum - was the center of a major battle that started at six o'clock last night. An unknown group of entities (or so the FRC would like to classify us good people as) stormed the main lobby of the building, but was pushed back toward the West Coast Island Chains with the use of the building's emergency portal. This terrorist group left a bloody trail across the United States, literally. Moving at an estimated speed of about three to four thousand miles per hour, they killed everyone and everything in their way, and their way included major points such as the northern part of Phoenix and the southern part of Chicago. Casualties have not been counted as of yet, but obviously the body count is very high. This unknown force was stopped in our New York region by over fifteen attack teams supplied by the FRC, including a specialized team who the FRC would like to remain secret. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Hey Hacker, do you plan on mentioning us on the news any day now? '...who the FRC would like to remain secret'?!?" Jake said. He was entering Hacker One's laboratory in the FRC building, holding up a printout of the article on NewsNetLink's front page. 

"Sorry Jake," Hacker replied. "I would like to keep you kids at a low profile. Who knows what the media might do if they found you were working for the FRC. Besides, national security and all that junk." 

"Oh, that ain't fair...." 

"Ah, it's just a news report. Don't worry about it. Oh, I just finished examining what Chris gave to me yesterday." 

"Oh, you must mean Serena's tiara, right? You had time to examine it?" 

"I stayed up all night working on it. Very interesting piece your friend uses." 

They both walked over to the table where the tiara was set on. 

"As you can see, it doesn't look very impressive. But watch this." Hacker got a lighter from his pocket and let its flame touch the tiara. The head piece lighted up and was on fire. 

"Hacker, what are you doing?" 

"Don't worry Jake. It's not going to melt. But watch as it is on fire. I timed it, and my watch showed that the flame on the head piece burns for a long time until it makes contact with an object. Then, the tiara rechannels its energy, or in other words, it transfers the flame onto the object. Very effective attack, I might add. I wonder what happens if we use other elements. I'm not sure." Hacker put out the flame and gave the tiara to Jake. "Great thing about the head piece is that it goes back down to a normal temperature immediately after it is used. Here, give this back to Serena." 

"Thanks." 

"You gonna do any missions today?" 

"No, of course not, it's Sunday! Someone 'round here's gotta take a weekend off." 

"Very well, then. Oh! Almost forgot. You dropped your pager on the floor in the command center last night." Hacker reached into his pocket and got Jake's pager. "A few people, um, accidentally tripped on it before I noticed it." 

"Oh, gee, thanks. Clip's broken, and I got no pockets to put it in!" 

"Yeah, and the alarm doesn't go off either, you might as well put it in silent mode." 

Jake stared at the barely functional pager, as Hacker added, "C'mon, don't worry. I'll have a replacement by the end of the day." 

"Thanks, Hacker." 

"No prob. See ya later." 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Jake left the building, with his pager turned on and in his hand, as he had no place else to put it. He headed to the fast food place the whole group went to the night before. Once there, he placed his order to go. He paid for the food and had it put in a bag. He carried both the pager and the bag in his left hand. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Back in the lab, Hacker noticed something on his table, "Hey, Jake left the tiara here!" He got the phone and called the number for his pager. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

On Jake's way out of the restaurant, he met up with Serena, Kim and Mina, who were just coming in. 

"Hey Jake!" Serena said. 

Jake looked up and replied, "Oh, h-hi Serena." He stared at her blankly for a second and thought, "Man, she's so fine!" 

Kim said to Jake, "Jake. Jake! You OK?" 

Jake snapped out of it and said, "Oh, um, yeah. Well, gotta go. Meeting up with Chris and Mike for lunch." 

Just then, the pager, in silent mode, began to vibrate, as did Jake's hand. A little bit nervous, Jake said, "Um, excuse me...." He then quickly left the restaurant. 

All three girls laughed a little and placed their order. They all sat down for lunch. While they were eating, Kim said, "You know what? I think Jake likes you...." 

Serena spit her drink out while she was drinking. "Oops, um, sorry," she said. She turned to Kim and said, "What are you crazy?" 

"Oh come on, did you see how nervous he was when we saw him a few minutes ago?" 

"So?" At that Serena turned red. 

Mina and Kim both said, "Wow, look at her blush!" 

"What does it matter? I'm already taken..." 

Mina said, "She's talking about Darien...." 

"Darien, is it? Well, I bet Jake figures as long as he's missing, well, maybe he'll get to know you A LOT better..." 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"You know, I thought I'd get to know her better..." Jake said. 

"You're crazy," Mike replied. 

Chris added, "Yeah, Jake. Didn't you mention someone named Darien to us? Remember? One of those that we have to find?" 

"But we haven't found him yet, have we?" 

Chris looked at Mike, "Is he thinking what I know he's thinking?" 

Jake jumped up, "Chris, it's not like that! I mean, we WILL find everyone. I'm not suggesting we stop looking for this guy, but how long will it take until we find him?" 

Mike commented, "Yep, he's thinking what we know he's thinking." 

Jake still looked surprised, "No I am not! I'm just saying it might be a while until we find this Darien. But until then, someone's gotta keep Serena company, right?" 

"Jake," Mike added, "Do you realize how long you've know Serena? Only 48 hours. Such a small time before the start of a relationship, don't you think?" 

"So?" 

"Well, what do you know about her anyways?" 

Jake gave a blank face for a moment. 

"Yeah, thought so." 

Chris said, "Jake, I doubt anyone like Serena would fall for you." 

"Yep, you are obviously not her type." 

Jake added, "Oh, so I suppose YOU two know about her?" 

Chris and Mike both gave a blank face. 

"Um....well, never mind..." Chris said. 

"Thought so too. Look, I'm going out." Jake took his jacket and left Mike's house. 

"Hey, where you going?!?" Mike replied. "C'mon, let's go after him." 

"Right!" And at that they both ran out the door. 

Chris and Mike both followed Jake out into the street as he walked into the nearest Mag-Lev station. Once they caught up with him, Chris said, "Where are YOU going?" 

"I have to get back to Hacker's lab. I left Serena's tiara there." 

"Why are you using the train? You always walk." 

"Cause it's about a mile to the building and I just need a place to sit and think for a few more minutes." 

Mike looked at Jake, "I could tell you that you could be embarrassed in front of the entire team if you continue." 

"You just did. And what am I continuing?" 

"Jake, I could hear it now. I could hear Serena saying that she already has someone else." 

"I'll take the risk. Since when did you have to worry about me?" 

A train bearing the name "MagLev 4" on its side stopped right in front of the waiting passengers, including Jake, Chris, and Mike. They all paid the fare as they entered the train and took a seat. The next minute the train started moving toward its next destination: "Fifth and Main: FRC HQ." 

Chris continued the conversation, "Look, I advise you to get to know Serena a bit more before you ask her out." 

Jake sighed, "I did that last time, remember?" 

Mike said, "Jake, Lisa had to move away, that was all there was to it!" 

"Lisa....she didn't even know I was alive. You know, the day she moved to the space colonies....it was the day I finally got the nerve to say 'I love you.'" 

Jake continued, "Besides, I only have so much time with this mission. After that, Serena and her friends have to go back to their own reality." 

"Yeah, emphasis on 'back to their own reality'. Even if you do make it with Serena, how do you figure that you two will stay together?" 

"Mike, I just need to know if someone was really out there for me. You know, someone who cared about me." 

The train stopped in front of the FRC headquarters. At that the three disembarked from the train. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Serena, Kim, and Mina were out walking on the street, continuing their conversation. 

Kim said, "Look, I never said I was entirely sure, I just said I think he likes you." 

Serena replied, "Well, we don't know yet, do we?" 

"You know Kim, maybe we should just ask him," Mina added. 

"Yeah right. We're talking about Jake here. There is almost no way you could get really personal information about him." 

"Well, chances are he might have told one of your other friends..." 

"Oh, you mean Mike or Chris, right? Like we'd get it from them..." 

"Then I guess we'll have to wait and see, right?" 

Serena looked up, "Yeah, that's right! Just let him make the first move..." 

"OK, if you're willing to wait that long..." 

They all laughed a little as they walked by the FRC building. 

Mina said, "What are we doing here today?" 

"Nothing. It's Sunday, and this is just on the way to my house." 

Just then, Kim noticed Jackie on the other side of the street. Walking beside her was Luna. Kim waved her hand and shouted, "Hey, Jackie!" 

Both Jackie and Luna noticed the other three and crossed the street. Once they were on the other side, Jackie said, "Hey, what are you doing here?" 

Kim replied, "Oh, just going over to my house." 

Serena looked down at Luna and asked, "So, what did you do today?" 

"Walking around with Jackie for the past hour." 

Jackie commented, "Yeah, this cat here didn't like anything I fed her. 'Let's go get some chocolate,' she says." 

"Hey, I'm picky, OK?" 

At that moment, Jake, Mike, and Chris walked out of the FRC building, with Jake holding Serena's tiara. They met up with the five that were already there. Jake looked surprised as he said, "Uh...what are you doing here?!?" 

"Nothing, what are YOU doing here?" Kim replied. 

Serena pointed at what Jake was holding, "Hey, isn't that my tiara?" 

Jake turned red, "Yeah, um...it is. Here," as he handed to Serena. 

Remembering to what Kim and Mina were saying, Serena also turned red as she got back her headpiece. Together, they both looked down on the ground. Luna said to Mina, "Something I should know?" 

"Yes, you should..." 

Mike whispered to Kim, "You're thinking what I'm thinking, right?" 

"Yep, exactly what you're thinking..." 

Jackie asked Chris, "Why are they both blushing?" 

"Oh, you don't know yet?" 

Just then, a car stopped in the middle of the street. The driver seat's window opened, and out of it came a hand holding a gun, and it was pointing at the FRC building. More specifically, it happened to be aiming at the eight Jumpers. It could have been Mike who was the first to notice the weapon pointing at them, because he said with surprise, "Oh sh*t..." 

They all looked at what Mike was looking at. At the sound of the first shot that was fired from the gun, Jake shouted, "GET DOWN!" 

Everybody on the street either hit the floor, as the Jumpers did, or ran towards the nearest building. Either way, everyone was screaming. The man in the car fired ten shots at the FRC building and drove away. 

Kim, who was still on the ground like the others, asked, "W-what was that all about?" 

"Uh, Jake," Serena said while face down, "You can stop holding me now..." 

Jake quickly realized what he was doing and quickly let go. But by then the rest of the Jumpers were giggling. They all stood up and continued walking to Kim's house. For a little fun, Mike asked, "So Jake, um, what were you doing on the floor while holding Serena?" 

Again, both Jake and Serena turned red in the face. Jake thought about it for a minute. He had no choice. He had to lie. "Nothing, Mike. Absolutely nothing." 

Kim spoke up, "What Jake means..." 

"I didn't mean anything. Nothing happened." 

That surprised everyone, including himself, when he said that with a straight face. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

All eight arrived at Kim's house and had dinner. Everyone was quiet while they were eating. After dinner, they all talked for awhile, but Jake was outside, sitting on the step leading to the front door. He was lost in thought, thinking he could have let Serena know he was fond of her, and how close he got to saying it. 

"Is this step taken?" Serena asked. 

"Uh...no. Here, sit down," Jake replied. 

She sat down on the step, next to Jake. Again, silence fell upon the two. It was just Serena, Jake, and the stars above them. After a minute, Serena said, "Look, about before..." 

"You don't have to say it...I embarassed myself." 

"No you didn't. You...you actually saved my life." 

"I-I did?" 

"Yeah. I didn't even know what was going on until you pulled me to the ground. Before, I just forgot to say.....thanks." 

Jake smiled, "Sure, no problem...I'm just worrying what the others think." 

"Oh, so you don't...." 

Once again, Jake was pressured into lying again, "N-no, of course not. I mean, we're only friends, right?" 

Serena was surprised, "Uh, yeah....right. Just...friends." 

Jake's smile faded quickly as he said, "Look, I'm going home. I'll meet you back there later." 

"O-OK." 

Quietly, Jake quickly walked out of the walkway and into the street and disappeared. Like Jake said, "Nothing happened," but if you could watch both Jake and Serena at exactly the same time, you could hear them say in unison, "...doesn't care about me after all...." And maybe you could catch a few tears fall from both of their faces. 

TO BE CONTINUED.... 


	7. Point of Origin

Episode 7: Point of Origin

Operation: Realty Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 7: Point of Origin 

"Oh come on clock, move!" thought Jake. It was 2:57 PM on Monday at Brooklyn Technical High School. For the past twenty minutes he had been scribbling in notes about either the physical science midterm or about Serena. 

Finally, the bell rung at exactly three o'clock. Everyone ran out of the class and out of school. Everyone including Jake. He remembered back at study hall when he received a message on his pager. The message read: "To all Jumpers; meet in DT 8 at 330P." Now, in English, that would mean something's up in Dimensional Travel Room 8 at the FRC that must be dealt with at 3:30 PM. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

At 3:14, Jake rushed to the Mag-Lev transport to the FRC building. After the usual routine of security inspection, he ran to the open elevator going to floor 83. A minute passed before Jake flew out of the elevator when he reached the target floor. Once he was in front of DT 8, Jake looked at his watch. "D*mn!" he said. "It's 3:31!" He opened the door to see the rest of the Jumpers: Jackie, Mike, Kim, Chris, Serena, Mina, and Luna along with Hacker One. They were all sitting in chairs, apparently waiting for Jake. 

Hacker, pointing at his own watch, stood up, "You're a minute late, Tyler." 

"Correction," Jake said in a different tone. "One minute and fourteen seconds. Uppt, sixteen seconds. Eighteen, nineteen..." 

"OK, we get the picture. Just sit down." 

Jake grabbed a folding chair and sat in the center of the small room. As he was sitting down, Serena said, "Uh...hi, Jake..." 

Acting a little shy, Jake replied, "Um, hi...." 

For a few seconds, the room was quiet, until Hacker spoke up, "Anyway.....with a bit of luck, I've been able to locate where the NegaVerse originates. The other day, this Queen Beryl was able to escape, but she kept her escape portal open long enough for me to get a lock on the point of origin." 

Mike asked, "OK, I bet there's a point to all this, right?" 

"Of course there is. If you're up to it, I'd like you guys to attack the NegaVerse. Hopefully you can defeat them at their source, knocking them out for awhile. At full force, they proved to be very dangerous opponents. So, what's it gonna be?" 

Everyone nodded their heads, meaning they would accept the challenge. 

"Very well, I will activate the machine here..." 

Luna sat up and said to Serena and Mina, "Well, you know what to do..." 

The two girls nodded their heads again and shouted, 

"MOON STAR POWER!" 

"VENUS STAR POWER!" 

Flashes of light came from both the two girls and the dimensional travel mechanism as Serena and Mina transformed into Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus. 

Once Hacker One entered the coordinates to the "entrance to the NegaVerse," he said, "OK, I advise that you be careful. Like I said, the full extent of power from this enemy equals major trouble." 

"No prob," Jackie replied, "Don't you worry 'bout us." 

All eight Jumpers ran into the portal and disappeared, with the gateway closing after it. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

The place was cavern-like, with a few stalactites and stalagmites sticking out from the ground and ceiling. Very little light traveled through the area, meaning darkness ruled the place. Just then, a portal opened from the ceiling, and out of it dropped Jake. He fell on his back, and he couldn't see a thing. 

"Hey guys?!?" he shouted. "Did you guys get out yet? Ya know, it's dark in here...." 

At that moment, someone fell on Jake as he yelled, "OW!" 

Recognizing the voice, Jake said, "Mike, get off me..." 

Mike couldn't, because one by one the rest of the Jumpers, who were all screaming, fell on top of each other. When Luna fell from the portal and on top of Sailor Venus, who was on the top of the pile everyone toppled over. In the darkness, Jake blindly searched for his communicator, turned it on, and shouted, "D*mn it Hacker! Get that thing fixed!" 

Hacker's voice came out of the speaker, "Sorry 'bout that! Hacker out." 

Before Jake got up, he reached for his flashlight. When he switched it to ON, the cavern became filled with light as he saw his other Jumpers. He said, "Hey, you guys OK?" 

Altogether, everyone else said, "WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?!?" 

"Shh! They might hear us...." 

Everyone was on their feet after a minute. Sailor Moon looked up and turned to Sailor Venus, "Hey, 'member this place?" 

"Yeah, we were here like two years ago, right?" 

Chris asked, "Jake, what are we looking for?" 

"I bet there's some kind of energy source around here. There must be; where's Queen Beryl getting the energy for traveling?" 

Luna replied, "Well, Queen Beryl used her minions to draw energy directly from humans." 

Sailor Moon said, "But we wasted them all a long time ago!" 

Jake got his scanner and asked, "So where is she getting her energy from now?" He rotated in all eight directions until something picked up on his scanner, "I was right! Our energy source is over this way." 

The Jumpers followed Jake in the direction the scanner was pointing. They walked for twenty minutes until they reached the entrance to a room. There, the scanner pointed out they were a hundred feet from their target, straight ahead. 

"Hold it!" Jake said. "I read about twenty life signs in that room. And they don't look human." 

Kim replied, "Well, I suppose we get rid of these people, right?" 

"I'll take care of it," Sailor Moon said. She took the tiara off her head and said, 

"MOON TIARA MAGIC!" 

Kim kicked the door opened and got out of the way, because Sailor Moon's tiara came flying off her hands and into the room. Nobody knew where it landed, but a big flash of light was emitted from the insided of the room. Everyone covered their eyes for a few seconds. When it was safe to look inside the room, they saw that nine or ten of the entities were on the floor, unconscious. 

"......Youma, right?" Kim asked to Luna. 

The cat said, "You're catching on...." 

Sailor Moon saw her tiara, which was in the center of the room. She ran to get it, but was hit and fell to the ground by a beam of energy. The rest of the team looked up to see where it came from. It came from another group of youma, all twisted in features like the previous group, on the other side of the room. This group scattered across the room to attack the Jumpers. With a bit of hesitation, Jake said to the team, "Sailor Venus, go get Sailor Moon over there on the floor. Kim, give me your fire gun. All of you, try to stall while I head into the next room." 

Chris asked, "Energy source, right?" 

"Right." 

Kim handed Jake the gun. He ran across the room, shooting any monster near him, as he tried to make it to the next room. The rest of the youma didn't notice he was gone. 

Jake went into the next room. He noticed it was much bigger than the cavern they were in before; he couldn't even see far enough to see the end of the room. Just then, some sort of black hole opened up directly above and ahead of Jake. A strange and distorted voice came from it, "Who dares enter attack the NegaVerse?" 

Jake was silent as he aimed the fire gun at the hole. He pressed the trigger, and fire came spitting out of the gun. As small amounts of "ignited jelly" came closer to the hole, the flames were quickly put out. 

"FOOL!" the voice screamed. An energy beam came out of the black hole and hit Jake, bringing him to the ground. 

Another voice was laughing, this time a woman's laugh. Jake recognized that voice, the voice of Queen Beryl. She materialized out of thin air and said, "HA HA HA! I see you've met my 'boss.'" 

"You'll, ow, never get away with this...." 

"Hey, you attacked me first, right? Ah well, now I must kill you!" 

Jake laughed a little, "YOU'RE going to kill me?" 

"Well, not me, actually. Prepare to die, boy." She disappeared as suddenly as she came in. 

"Geez, what a nutcase," Jake thought. He tried to stand up, but noticed someone behind him. What he saw was someone dressed in a type of clothing someone would wear at a costume party. "Who're you?" he asked. 

The man standing in front of Jake replied, "I am your worst nightmare." 

"Riiiiiiiiight. So, what do you think you're gonna kill me with?" 

"With this," the man said as he drew a sword. 

Jake, who became surprised, jumped back and thought, "Oh sh*t, me and my big mouth...." 

The man stepped toward Jake and swung the sword a few times. Jake turned around and ran from his adversary. The man then ran after him, pointed his sword at Jake, and fired a few beams of energy at Jake. The shots missed Jake by a couple of inches, but Jake knew he was going to get hit sooner or later. He tripped on a rock and fell to the ground, again. On the floor, he turned around so that he was face up. But he saw that the man was looking over him with his sword pointing at Jake's shirt pocket. Jake suddenly became scared. 

"This was all too easy," Jake's enemy said as he laughed. The sword started glowing, signaling it was firing another shot. Another energy beam hit Jake's shirt pocket, but was thrown back at the man. He screamed and was pushed to the floor. 

Jake wondered what happened for a moment, and then realized something. He left his pocket mirror inside his shirt. "Hmm, what're the odds of THAT?" He sighed a breath of relief and stood back up. Looking over his defeated enemy, he said, "Don't mess with me...." 

Weakly, the man looked up and said, "Who....who are you?" 

Jake thought, "Oh no, not again." He remembered back to the other day when he, along with Serena, battled someone brainwashed and sent from the NegaVerse. 

At that moment, the man was covered with some sort of light and disappeared. 

Startled, Jake said, "Eek! Better get out of here." He found the exit and ran toward the previous room, where a battle was already in progress between the Jumpers and the youma. He ran past the monsters and headed straight for his team. "Guys!" he screamed. "TAR out of here!" 

Chris, who was in the back of the battle, reached into his pocket to get the track-and-return device. He turned it on, causing a portal to open behind him. He handed the device to Jake and jumped into the gateway. Kim ran to Jake, "Give me my gun!" She picked up Luna, grabbed the gun from Jake, fired it toward another NegaVerse monster, and ran into the portal. 

"Hey! Wait for us!" screamed Jackie and Sailor Venus as they also headed into the portal. 

Jake shouted, "C'mon, Sailor Moon! We gotta jet!" 

"OK!" Sailor Moon said. Jake took Sailor Moon by the hand and jumped into the closing portal. 

TO BE CONTINUED.... 


	8. Prisoner Exchange

Episode 8: Prisoner Exchange

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 8: Prisoner Exchange 

Hacker One sat patiently in Dimensional Travel Room 8, waiting for the Jumpers to come back. At that moment, someone opened the door, saying, "Boss, there's a small leak in our fusion power line." 

Hacker replied, "Umm, fix it quickly; the Jumpers should be coming back in an hour or two, we don't want anything wrong with the gateway machine's power supply." 

"Yes, sir." 

As the door to the room closed, the machine at the far left of the room automatically turned on, signaling someone was coming through. The portal opened, and out of it came the eight entities that formed the Reality Jumpers. One by one, they were all thrown to the floor. Jake, who was the last one to come out, looked up at Hacker and said, "Ouch....see what I mean?" 

"Sorry, Jake. Remind me to work on that Wednesday, OK?" 

"Make that tomorrow, Hacker. TOMORROW." 

"OK, OK...so why are you guys here so early?" 

Chris, while out of breath from running around inside the NegaVerse, stood up and replied, "Monsters....big....dangerous...." And at that he lay back down on the floor of the room. 

"Well, I told you it was dangerous. What did you find out, anyway?" 

Sailor Moon, who changed back into Serena, looked up and said, "What do you think we'd find in only a half hour, huh?" 

Just then, everyone felt a gush of wind circulating from the room. Luna looked around the room and noticed another portal opening, but it didn't come from the machine. She put her paw up and pointed at the opening, saying, "Look!" 

They all noticed the gateway in an open corner of the room. Everyone dropped back to the ground and tried to hold onto something. After half a minute, the portal closed and disappeared. Hacker looked around the room and asked, "Everyone all right?" 

Shortly after that, Luna shouted, "Wait! Where's Serena?" 

"I don't know...." Hacker counted the number of people in the room, including himself and the cat. The total was seven. "Where's Jake?" 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Where am I?" Jake said as he looked up and observed that he was in total darkness. 

"JAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!!!" a voice cried out. 

Though Jake was startled by the extra presence, Jake recognized the cry. "Serena, it's all right." He felt along a wall and noticed the rocky surface. "Great, I bet we're back in the NegaVerse...." 

At that moment, Serena shouted, "HEY, I DON'T WANNA BE BACK HERE!!" 

"C'mon, Serena," Jake replied calmly, compared to Serena's whining. "I thought you were used to this kind of stuff..." 

"Yeah, I know, but..." 

She was stopped in mid-sentence when a burst of light cut through the darkness. Unfortunately, it was the eerie glow that was emitted from the picture of a face that appeared in front of the two. In an instant, both knew who it was. 

"Ha ha ha! Did you REALLY think I'd let you get away THAT easily?" Queen Beryl said. 

Jake shouted, "Hey, why did you bring us back here?" 

"Well, you know the obvious reason: I want to get rid of you very quickly. But I don't have it in me to do it myself." 

Serena looked up, "You're too afraid we'll defeat you again?" 

"Yes....you could say that." 

Thinking there was still not enough light, Jake turned on his flashlight and continued, "So what're ya gonna do? Leave us here forever?" 

"Not actually. Instead, I want to play a little game with you before you die a quick death. You see, I sent one of my minions to set a bomb somewhere within the area that you are currently in. Now I'm not saying you won't find it, you just won't be able to defuse it." 

"YOU'RE LYING!" 

"Now now, boy, I may be evil, but I'm not a liar. In about twenty minutes the bomb will go off, leveling the entire cavern!" 

"Why are you doing this? Why don't you just finish us off right now?" 

"Because I have someone else over in that part of the NegaVerse I want to get rid of, and I thought it would be appropriate that all three of you were destroyed all at once. Well, it's been really nice knowing you, gotta go!" And at that the face of Queen Beryl disappeared. 

19:58.47..... 

Serena started to panic, saying, "What're we gonna do? WHAT'RE WE GONNA DO?!?" 

"Don't worry," Jake said calmly. "That Queen Beryl thinks she can kill us that easily. Well..." He reached into his pockets, but nothing was in there. "The track-and-return device! I lost it!" 

"Well, where did it go?" 

"I don't know, I must've dropped it when we hit the floor back at the building!" 

"Ohhhh, great! Now what?" 

Jake couldn't respond, because they heard someone scream, but they didn't know where the scream came from. 

"Well, we got to find a way out of here, but first we gotta find that person who's screaming." He pointed in one direction and added, "You go to the left, I'll go to the right. Meet back here in TEN minutes, OK?" And so they ran in opposite directions as Serena shouted, 

"MOON STAR POWER!" 

19:04.51..... 

....and turned into Sailor Moon. She ran down the rocky hallway for about a minute until she reached a dead end. On the floor she noticed something beeping. "This must be the time bomb!" 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

17:53.79..... 

As Jake ran through the hall, he could hear the scream getting louder. He noticed a path on his right leading to a room. He followed the path and entered a large room filled with machines and tools. Also in that room was the girl who was screaming. The girl was restrained against a wall with restraints on her wrists and legs. Her body was bruised in several places and her clothes were slightly torn. When the girl noticed Jake, she said extra-loud, "HELP ME!" 

Startled by the noise, Jake replied, "OK, I'm here, youcanstopscreamingnow...." 

"Sorry, I've been here for almost two days. Please, get me out of here!" 

"All right, all right...." Jake looked around the room and noticed a bin of tools in a corner of the room. Knowing the clock was ticking, he looked through the bin, trying to find something that could release the girl's restraints. In the bin he found a mechanical torch that only contained a little fuel, but Jake predicted it was probably enough. He ran up to the girl, turned on the torch and pointed it at one of the wrist restraints. 

"OW!" she shouted. "That burns!" 

"Sorry," as Jake put the torch down. "But this is probably the only way to get you free." 

"Well, actually...." 

"I suppose you have an idea." 

"Yes. The access code, I think, is 5183." 

"Excuse me?" 

"That was the code that locked these restraints to my wrists and my ankles. I noticed it when Queen Beryl typed it in." 

So Jake turned on the machine that the girl pointed to and typed in the code. In seconds, the restraints disappeared and the girl was free. But Jake realized something. "Why didn't you tell me that a minute before?" 

As the girl limped towards Jake, she replied, "You didn't ask...." 

Jake's head dropped. "I must've heard that a million times......" He put his hand out and added, "I'm Jake." 

"My name's Ami." 

Didn't Jake hear that name from Serena before? "Wait a minute.......Ami? As in.....Sailor Mercury?" 

Ami looked surprised, "How did you know?!?" 

"Long story, c'mon, let's get outta here. A bomb's gonna go off in about fifteen minutes!!" 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

16:47.81..... 

After carefully examining the bomb for a few minutes, Sailor Moon managed to get the top panel of the explosive device open. Inside contained a series of wires all connecting to a digital clock that was counting down from "16:41.09." 

"What do I do now?" Sailor Moon thought. "If I hit it with my sceptre, the thing'll probably explode, right?.................I know! Maybe if I cut one of the wires, the thing will stop..." 

So she took off her left glove and pinched the only red wire in the bomb using her pink fingernails. When the wire was completely cut, the digital clock counted down faster and faster. In seconds it read "16:04.77" and falling. Sailor Moon panicked. She stepped away from the bomb and ran back to find Jake. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

14:37.90..... 

"MERCURY STAR POWER!" 

Right before Jake's eyes, Ami turned into Sailor Mercury. With wide-open eyes, all he could say was, "Neat.....look, there's no way we can get out of here before the bomb blows." 

"Well, how did you get in?" 

"Let me see....I think we went through one of Queen Beryl's portals." 

"Good, we might have a chance then...." 

"Another idea in mind?" 

She didn't respond. Sailor Mercury touched the side of her head, making a blue visor appear in front of her eyes. On the visor contained some information which Jake couldn't see. After a few seconds, she added, "Yes, I was able to lock on to some sort of energy the portal left behind when it closed. I used that to re-open the portal, and it's located in that direction, where youl came from." 

"Wow. You're good. I couldn't even think of that...." 

"Let's go, shall we?" 

10:11.83..... 

"Yep. Hey, got a lot of time too. We got, like, fourteen minutes...." 

Just then, Sailor Moon entered the doorway, out of breath. She noticed Jake, but her eyes were focused on Sailor Mercury. She ran up to her and shouted, "It's you! It's really you!" 

"I'm glad to see you too!" She turned to Jake and added, "You never told me Serena was with you...." 

Jake responded, "I forgot, all right? Listen, we've got," he looked at his watch, "Thirteen minutes. We'd better get out of here." 

Now Sailor Moon had to break the bad news. "Umm, Jake, we got a little problem..." 

"Uh oh, what's that?" 

"Well, I found the bomb, see? And so I opened it, right? I cut the red wire, and...." 

Jake's smile, as little as it was, quickly disappeared as he shouted, "WHAT? Why did you do that? Anyone smart enough knows never to cut the red wire!" 

"I'm sorry!!" 

"Well, what happened after you cut it?" 

"The clock on the bomb started to count faster..." 

"Great, that equals that we have to get out of here, FAST!" 

1:13.74..... 

Jake, Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury ran through the hall back to the place where the portal is supposed to be. As they neared their destination, Jake thought, "Oh, I hope we're not too late...." 

0:21.04..... 

On the far side of the cavern, the bomb hit "double-zero." It caused a blast to take out the rocky ceiling above it, causing a chain reaction that would destroy everything in the cavern. 

The three heard the blast, then the sound of falling debris followed. Fortunately the open portal was in sight; about fifteen feet ahead. They all rushed to the portal, but a boulder from the ceiling fell and hit Jake in the knee, forcing him to the ground. Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury turned their heads to look at Jake as he cried in pain. 

"Oh no!" Sailor Moon said. "Are you all right?" 

Jake tried to move his leg, but found out that he couldn't. "I can't move it, guys!" he said. He felt around his leg and concluded it was a simple fracture. 

At that moment a set of rocks and boulders fell and separated Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury from Jake. 

Sailor Mercury screamed, "Don't worry! We'll get you of there!" 

Realizing the cavern was falling apart and fast, he made a quick decision, "Go! Go on without me!" 

"What?!?" Sailor Moon replied. 

"There's no way you can get me out of here in time! Go through the portal now!" 

"We're not going to leave you here!" 

"You don't have any choice! Leave!" 

Sailor Mercury took Sailor Moon by the hand, saying, "Don't worry, we'll find a way to get you of here!" 

"I hope you do, OK?" 

At that, the two Sailor Scouts left through the portal as the ground became covered with debris from the ceiling. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"It didn't work!" Hacker said as he turned off the dimensional tracking device. He said that in front of the six remaining Jumpers in the room. 

Chris replied, "They've been gone for almost twenty minutes! What makes you think we'll find them now?" 

Just then, the portal re-opened in a corner of the room. Out of it came Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury. 

Kim said, "Hey! You came back!" 

Mina looked at the two and added, "Ami? Is that you?" 

They greeted each other with a hug and some tears of joy. But it was then when Mike asked, "Serena, where's Jake?" 

She stood in silence as the sound of a great big crash was heard from the closing portal signaling the cavern had completely caved in, but out of it came a tiny object that spun on the ground and fell. Sailor Moon picked up the object. She recognized what it was. "Jake's mirror...." she thought as she burst into tears. 

"What happened?" Hacker asked softly. Still Sailor Moon gave no answer. But everyone in the room got the picture. "I see...." 

The room was quiet for a few minutes as they all put their heads down in sadness. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

From another part of the NegaVerse, Queen Beryl sat in her chair, watching the activity going on in the FRC room. She smiled wickedly as she said, "Just as I had planned...." She summoned her minions and said, "Get the Tyler kid for me. I want to use him before they figure out he's still alive!" 

TO BE CONTINUED...... 


	9. Government Assistance

Episode 9: Government Assistance

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 9: Government Assistance 

"Wake up, you!" Queen Beryl said as Jake regained consciousness. He found himself strapped to a chair with a pair of handcuffs attached to his wrists. 

"I'm still alive..." Jake replied weakly. "Why?" 

"Hmm, that's an interesting question. Well, I believe you were looking for some....energy source around here yesterday. Well, to tell you the truth, there isn't any." 

"You captured me to tell me THAT?!?" 

"Yes, and another thing too." She put her hand up to reveal a piece of paper. "Does this look familiar to you?" 

Jake examined the document, saying, "That's my application form for the Delta project! How'd you get t--" 

Queen Beryl interrupted, "Ah, you have good memory too. Do you also remember what the Delta project was?" 

"Yeah, it involved some genetic engineering, resulting in......no....you don't plan on...." 

"Of course I do. You see, I have no main energy source to rely on. I've considered you because your genetic engineeing has proved useful to me, so I must draw the energy from you. Imagine.....infinite energy that keeps the NegaVerse powered....powered long enough for me to take over the entire continuum!" 

"You don't know what you're doing! I could get killed if you draw too much energy at a time!" 

"Ah, you're assuming I want you. No, I just want your body...." 

Jake quickly became angry, "Why, you...." He couldn't finish the sentence. Queen Beryl waved her hand as Jake fell asleep again. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Stuyvesant High School, first period. In chemistry class, Jackie watched a science experiment in progress, but he wasn't paying attention. She thought, "How did Queen Beryl get rid of Jake....so easily?" 

On the other side of the building, Kim was having music class as she thought, "Oh, I hope Queen Beryl is satisfied; I just lost my best friend!" 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Third period came around in New Dorp High School. Mike was having English class, but his mind was on Jake. "Who cares about English?" he said silently. "I want to get back in the NegaVerse and get rid of Queen Beryl!" 

Serena sat across the room from Mike, thinking, "Oh, if I only I told him! Now he's just...gone!" 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Lunch ended in Staten Island Academy as fifth period began. Mina was walking with Luna on her way to the next class. Mina asked to Luna, "You think Jake's still alive?" 

Luna replied, "I hope so, but I wouldn't count on it. He would've been a great help, finding the rest of the Scouts and all...." 

On her first day in a temporarily new school, Ami entered computer class with one thought in mind, "Jake saved me from the NegaVerse.....I didn't even get to know him for long...." 

Chris was in study hall preparing for the upcoming midterms, but he kept on thinking, "Wish I was there.....I could've helped out, and maybe Jake would still be alive...." 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Four o'clock at the FRC building. The Jumpers and the three Sailor Scouts were in the war room, waiting for Hacker One because he had something "really important." No one said a word until Hacker entered the room with three other people, one who was a woman. As the door closed, Hacker pointed at the three, "Jumpers, these three are Mary Olivet, Johnathan Riggs and Thomas Conolly." 

Mary said, "Pleasure to meet you," but the other two just said, "Hi." 

"Who are these people, Hacker?" Chris asked sternly. 

Hacker replied, "They are from the government, and...." 

The main Jumpers groaned as they heard that word. "Government." 

"Now hold on, guys. Regulations say that if a member of the FRC is no longer able to hold a high-ranking seat, then there is a thirty day period before the seat is taken by the next available person. These three are here to help to evaluate who should be the new director of the Reality Jumpers." 

Jackie said, "OK, then let us handle that task. I don't know about you guys, but I am sure not into letting government snobs decide for us." 

Riggs looked over at Jackie and replied, "Excuse me!?" 

"You heard me. There is no way I'm getting 'evaluated.'" 

The other Jumpers said in unison, "Me neither." 

Riggs tightened his fist, but Hacker held him back and said, "Guys, this isn't your decision, and it isn't mine either. Rollins gave the order this morning, top priority. He concluded you guys were minors and all, so he decided you are not capable of performing this task." 

"Well, that's his problem! He doesn't ask us first!?" 

Conolly spoke up, "Ahem.....the Jumpers IS a minors' team, and...." 

Jackie quickly became angry, "WHAT THE F*CK IS YOUR POINT?!?" 

Mary softly replied, "'Defense rests, your Honor....'" 

Mike added, "And what is THAT supposed to mean?" 

Within a few seconds, everyone on both sides of the room took a fighting position as if battle was beginning to occur. Everyone, of course, except Hacker One. "HOLD IT!" he shouted. "Look, this is a bit hard on us all, but this is no way to settle it." 

Ami said, "Yes. I must admit, even I don't know what's the point of all this." 

"Don't you see?" Jackie said as she walked to a door leading to another room. "The President thinks were babies." She entered the room and dropped out of sight. 

"Well, there's another great ending to that...." Hacker said disappointingly. "But guys, this is only thirty days, OK? After that, they'll leave." 

Mina replied, "Hacker, I think the point we're trying to make is...." 

Hacker was getting impatient, saying, "I know what your point is, and right now I don't want to argue about it anymore, so I'll leave you alone with these three, OK!?" He quickly stormed out of the war room, leaving the three government agents alone with the six Jumpers and their cat. 

"So...." Kim said. 

"Yep...." Mary replied. The conversation, if there was any, was quickly being lost. 

Conolly got a piece of paper from his pocket and examined it. He pointed at Luna, saying, "This report says.....this cat can talk!?" 

Luna answered, "'This cat' is named Luna, you know." 

"Just asking." 

Serena stood up from her chair and added, "Look, this is getting nowhere fast. If you already know, we still have a mission to complete! Remember, finding the rest of our friends? We can't do that if we sit around here arguing over nothing!" 

Riggs replied, "You're right. All right, I have a deal for you. You let us do our job for the next thirty days, we'll stay out of your way while you complete this mission of yours, OK?" 

The Jumpers agreed by nodding their heads. 

"Good! Now if you'll excuse us, we have to talk with some people outside." 

As the three left the room, Mike sighed and said, "Oh, why did Jake have to get killed!?" 

Just then, they heard someone shouting out curses and screaming, "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, ALL RIGHT?!?" The Jumpers concluded it was Jackie, who was in another room. They all ran to the door leading to the room. As the door opened, they saw her screaming at the man known as President Rollins, who was on the videocom. 

The President replied, "I advise you show more respect to me, Agent Forez. I'm already risking national security by letting a team of juniors into the FRC in the first place." But as he said that, the Jumpers who just entered noticed that wasn't his usual speaking tone. No, it sounded more like someone asleep who was talking in his sleep. 

"Did you even give a d*mn that a junior agent is dead!?" 

"I am completely aware of that....Agent Forez. As much as I would like to get back at those against us right now, I still have other things to take care of, such as the FRC attack you guys started on Saturday, remember that? Don't forget that over six-hundred-eighty million dollars in damage was done because the so-called NegaVerse was looking for you!" 

"Hold on, does that mean it's our fault then!?" 

"That's exactly what I'm saying. The Jumpers team has caused enough trouble for half a week, and believe me, I don't need another incident in the way of my now busy schedule, and that is why I sent my three government agents. Now if you'll excuse me....." 

"Oh, I ain't finished with you---" 

The President pushed a button on his table and the videocom screen faded to black. 

Jackie shouted more curses at the now-black screen. She turned to see the rest of the Jumpers standing in the doorway as she said, "How much of that did you see?" 

Mike replied, "Oh, enough...." 

"I don't get it," Chris added. "That's not the President we see once a month on the 'com, even if he IS angry." 

Ami said, "He sounded a bit....hypnotized, don't you think?" 

Chris quickly got an idea and left the room. The rest of the Jumpers followed him as he sat down in front of a computer. He typed in a few commands, saying, "I wonder if the President was persuaded into anything earlier today...." 

Luna asked, "How are you going to know?" 

"Well, for instance, he almost never leaves his office except when he's with family - he's way too afraid to face the public - so he communicates through the videocom almost all the time. Some time back, I placed a wiretap on the President's videocom when we did a mission before. I just remembered right now that I forgot to remove the wiretap!" 

"So?" 

"It's a theory, but why would the President want us under control? He's always trusted us before, even after situations far worse than the one last Saturday. So who's the only one outside the FRC, except the President, who knows about us and wants to get rid of us?" 

"Queen Beryl," Ami replied. "But that wouldn't make sense. She can appear out of nowhere when she wants to, why would she use this......videocam?" 

"It's videocom. Well, to avoid being uncovered. The President's office is filled with security cameras that signal alarms even if another person enters the door. The videocom is the only way to communicate if you don't want to be marked as suspiscious. Ah, there!" 

The computer screen displayed a list of video calls transmitted throughout the day, and one entry had the following description: 

UNIDENTIFIED VOICEPRINT -- PRESIDENT ROLLINS 09:14.51 for 1 min. 

Chris said, "No doubt our 'unidentified voiceprint' is Queen Beryl. Computer: Print out transcript of selected video call." 

After a minute, the computer printed out the transcript of the call. Ami took it out of the printer and read it. 

*BEGIN TRANSMISSION* 

ROLLINS: YES, MASTER? 

UNIDENTIFIED: THIS FORM OF COMMUNICATION ISN'T MONITORED, IS IT? 

ROLLINS: I DON'T BELIEVE SO..... 

UNIDENTIFIED: THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH! DOESN'T MATTER, ANYWAY. I WANT YOU TO FIND A WAY TO DISTRACT THE JUMPERS FOR AWHILE. 

ROLLINS: BUT WHY? 

UNIDENTIFIED: YOU QUESTION ME? 

ROLLINS: NO, IT'S JUST THAT.... 

UNIDENTIFIED: I'M NOT TAKING EXCUSES! JUST MAKE SURE THEY DON'T TRY TO ENTER THE NEGAVERSE AGAIN, UNDERSTAND? 

ROLLINS: YES, MASTER.... 

UNIDENTIFIED: GOOD. 

*END TRANSMISSION* 

Ami looked up from the paper and said to Chris, "I think you'd better look at this..." 

She felt a hand on her shoulder as someone behind her said, "Sure, let me look!" Ami turned her back and saw Riggs looking over her. He didn't have a happy face on. 

The other Jumpers looked to see the three agents who came back. They jumped up in surprise. Chris said, "Riggs! What a surprise! Um...it's not what it looks...." 

Conolly interrupted, "Oh, it is exactly what it looks. Invasion of privacy, to be specific. And towards the President, too! Give us the transcript!" 

As Conolly reached for the document, Ami backed away and grouped with the rest of the Jumpers. Mary said, "There's no way you're getting out of here unless you're detained!" 

Mike replied, "Mary, is it? Look, we're in the middle of an investigation of very high importance!" 

"Riiiiiiiiiight." 

Kim added, "It's true! This transcript is evidence that the President was persuaded into sending you to watch over us!" 

"Now....why would he be persuaded?" 

"So that we wouldn't be able to complete our mission against the NegaVerse!" 

Riggs said, "You expect us to believe that?" 

"Sure, read this transcript!" 

Ami handed the piece of paper to Riggs, but the agent tore it up. 

Jackie shouted, "Hey, you didn't even read it!" 

"I don't have to. It's invasion of privacy, any way you look at it, and it gets you three to five under the Juveniles' Act. Now, all of you, you're under arrest...." 

"I don't think so!" Serena spoke up. "Scouts?" 

"Ready!" Mina and Ami said. 

"MOON STAR POWER!" 

"VENUS STAR POWER!" 

"MERCURY STAR POWER!" 

The three transformed into the Sailor Scouts and got into defense positions next to the Jumpers, who had their weapons in hand. 

Conolly said, "This wasn't in the file! Who are you anyways!?" 

"I am Sailor Moon, champion of justice! On behalf of the Moon, I will right wrongs and triumph over evil, and that means you!" 

Mike whispered to Sailor Moon, "Um, Serena?" 

"Yes?" 

"I think that's the dumbest line I've ever heard...." 

"Hey, it's the only line I've got!" 

Riggs replied, "Yes, well. We're not exactly attacking you, you know. But we will if you don't come with us quietly!" He took a gun from his pocket, as did the other two agents. 

Mike said, "Oh, scary." 

Sailor Moon reached for the sceptre that appeared out of nowhere. Jackie, Chris, and Kim reached for their specialized guns and aimed it towards the three agents, and Sailor Venus and Sailor Mercury were waiting to fire. 

Frightened and knowing the odds were against them, Mary, Riggs, and Conolly quickly dropped their guns and put their hands up in the air. 

Mike added, "Hey, look, we ain't exactly going to fire on you either! We just want the charges dropped and a ride to Washington, so we can deal with the situation about the President." 

Mary asked, "What if we don't give you that ride?" 

"Then we WILL shoot you." 

Mary put her hands down, saying, "Hold on a minute..." 

She grouped with her partners and discussed the situation. After a minute, they turned towards the Jumpers, saying, "Deal." 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

It turned a half past five when the Jumpers, accompanied by the three government agents, arrived in Washington, D.C. by way of a private MagLev train. They all rushed towards their destination, the White House. Once there, they noticed the normally-closed gate leading to the front entrance was guarded by heavily armed guards. 

"I still think this is a bad idea," Riggs said as they hid behind a corner. "Look, I ain't taking a part in this...." 

Jackie pointed her gun towards the agent and replied, "You get us in or else!" 

Conolly added, "You are aware that you are breaking a few laws in doing this, correct?" 

"Of course," Mike said. "But you'll get the right idea once we get in there." 

The Jumpers and the agents walked out to meet the guards at the gate. Riggs, Conolly, and Olivet presented their ID cards, but one of the guards said, "You three can go in, but these kids...." 

Sailor Moon quickly got impatient. 

"MOON TIARA MAGIC!" 

She threw her tiara at the gate, causing a small explosion and knocking out the two men guarding it. 

Chris asked, "Riggs, tell us why guards are patrolling the front entrance. This is not exactly a proper procedure!" 

"I see your point," Riggs replied. "Let's go." 

The team of ten rushed towards the front door to the House as an alarm sounded. They all hid beside the steps as Sailor Mercury said, "I'll take care of this." 

"MERCURY ICE BUBBLES.....FREEZE!" 

A number of bubbles formed and made contact with the steps to the door, creating a sheet of ice on the steps. The door to the White House opened, and out came a group of guards armed with guns. One by one, they stepped on the ice and fell to the ground, unconscious. 

Kim asked, "Hey, you think there's more guards in there?" 

"Well, let's check," Sailor Venus replied. 

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM.....SMASH!" 

The beam flew through the doorway, and inside it knocked out a security camera. 

She then added, "Now we wait." 

As the alarm continued to sound, several guards ran from the sides of the White House. 

Together, Jackie and Kim said, "We got these!" 

They armed their guns and fired in opposite directions: lightning from Jackie's gun to the left and fire from Kim's gun to the right. The guards from the sides were stopped by the incoming attacks. 

Mary said, "Remind me to give you guys twenty to life, OK?" 

Kim shouted, "Hey, just trust us, all right?!" 

Another group of guards, in response to knocking out the camera, came out the front door and also slipped on the steps. 

"Now can we go in?" Mike asked. 

The team entered the doorway, finding there were no other guards left in the foyer. They rushed up the spiral stairs to the second floor and to the famous "Oval Office." They stopped in front of the door as Riggs armed his gun, saying, "Tell me again the point to all this!" 

Sailor Venus replied, "President.....persuasion.....remember?" 

"Oh, all right...." 

At that, Riggs kicked the door down and shouted, "Freeze, FBI!" 

The only one in the room was President Rollins, who was facing the window. He turned around and said, "May I help you?" in the same lifeless tone he spoke in just an hour ago. 

Conolly noticed the tone of voice the President was speaking in, "You say he was...hypnotized?" 

Rollins replied, "Hypnotized? Me? I never...." 

Riggs continued, "Give it up, Mr. President! I have a transcript here as evidence, and..." 

Sailor Moon walked up to Riggs and shouted, "Didn't you trash that piece of paper?!?" 

"Oh yeah...." 

"You were saying?" Rollins asked. He held a gun in his hands and fired three shots, one which dug into Riggs' left shoulder. 

He fell to the ground, saying, "D*mn!" In response, he fired a shot from his own gun before he lost grip of his weapon. The return fire hit the President's wrist, breaking his watch as it fell off his wrist. 

At that moment, mist emitted from the President's body as he fell to the ground. Conolly and Olivet rushed to help the President. After a minute, the Rollins opened his eyes, saying, "W-what's going on?" 

As the two agents helped the President get back on his feet, Sailor Venus picked up the watch off the floor. The design of the clock had the initials "NV" on it. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Night fell over Washington, D.C. as news crews swarmed into the front entrance of the White House. By that time, the Jumpers and the three government agents had already evacuated the building. The agents treated the Jumpers to dinner at a nearby restaurant, and as usual, Serena was the first and last to start and finish her meal. But just before they ordered the check, Riggs, who had his injured arm wrapped around a sling, asked Mike to step outside for a moment to talk. 

As the door closed behind the two, Mike asked, "Firsst of all.....charges dropped?" 

"Well....I guess I've seen enough for one day. Charges dropped." 

"Thank you." 

"No, thank you. I wanted to commend you on this mission. Maybe you have to break a few laws to get things done around here, and that's exactly what you proved today." 

"Are you kissing up to me?" 

"Of course not! All I wanted to say was that you and your Jumpers have proven your worth as a team of the FRC. You've proven that there's nothing 'minor' about the Reality Jumpers, and if you want, we won't have to evaluate your team; you can do the job of choosing a new director yourself." 

"Really!?" 

"Yeah. Like you said, you have a mission against the NegaVerse, we wouldn't want to interfere. Just say the word, and we'll stay here in Washington." 

Mike thought the offer over and said, "Well, we could temporarily use three government agents for the time being...." 

"You really mean that!?" 

"Yes, I do. You can still watch over us if you want." 

"That'd be nice. Thanks. Say.....you'd make a good leader for the Reality Jumpers." 

"Who? Me? No, I'd take a power trip the second you name me leader!" 

"Hmm, guess you're right....so, you got any girlfriends?" 

"That's a rather...personal question." 

"Oh, come on...." 

"Well, actually, no." 

"No? Why? You got those three girls in there!" 

"Oh, you mean, Serena and her friends?" 

"Yeah!" 

"Nah, I couldn't...." 

"What, you don't like them or anything like that?" 

"No, it's just..." 

"Ah, so who is it? Is it this Serena?" 

"No.....but I find Mina very attractive....." 

TO BE CONTINUED..... 


	10. The NV Virus

Episode 10: The NV Virus

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers Fanfic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 10: The NV Virus 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

NewsNetLink 

Subj: Trouble at the White House 

By Johnathan Craw*(&tboiny#n))+@0-ford 

Was it really trouble? NNL has no idea, cause nobody k86jnmbv4tfnew what was going on. Our news crew ent4fxvcd457ujmbnsered the scene at around 6:30 last night467yvbn v,jhomcv, and we found over 3retgbvm789p;.,0 government-class agents on the floor, inside AND outside the Whitefatalerror House. When everyone tried to enter the Oval Office that our President Rollins works in, he just walked out of 09r%HLNKGF$C*)9 well. 

Maybe in his 658u, nm;m,/ine, because fortunately no one was dead, or so we think. A half hour later we got the chance to interview him, and he admits he wa*%^YUu&%^*&567s under some extreme pressure, aLH(*(798n4oi009543nd explains that he t7ii.lm,bvj 

aetr69i,mnpp0-9 

blacked out incodesigerror his office yesterday morning, and ca4569j, vbgsdf54667me to last night. erynbh78i0ul.,m.jnklhjk7h! 

Personally, I don't like coincidences. Yes, I'm talking about last night's incident, the so-called "Battle in the Sky" on Saturday, and the shootin(*&nlkN83empxu)(*g the next day! What is going on here? Could it be that everything is *pom4--)n9038ehow? Keep your eyes on this 435hybfjghjkm bnis reporter is going to find out. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

A man entered Crawford's office and threw a printout of the front page on his desk, saying, "What is this crap?" 

Crawford replied, "What did you do to my front page, boss!? It's ruined!" 

"That's not my doing! I told you, scan your articles twice BEFORE you put it up on the Web!" 

"I did, I swear! There was none of that garbled text when I published that!" 

"But it was there when I looked at it, right?" 

"Well...." 

"Look, never mind about it. Just run an anti-virus program on your computer later, especially on that WebTool you keep on there." 

"Boss, I've scanned it a million times before!" 

"Then what else could've caused this trash?" 

"I don't know...all I put on there the past week was that new Dangerous Plan game!" 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Staten Island Mall, 4:30 PM. The Reality Jumpers and the three Sailor Scouts decided to take a small break from the action, and so have split up among the various stores of the mall after school. After a half hour or so, they regrouped at the fountain in the center of the mall. Mike stood there holding a small plastic bag with something in it. One by one came Jackie, Serena, Kim, and then Mina. Kim and Mina were holding the most shopping bags, and they both handed their merchandise to Mike. "Hey!" he said. "I ain't holding this! I got my own stuff to carry!" 

Serena replied, "Hey, how did you pay for all this?" 

Kim took out her card and said, "Well, we paid this using the FRC's account! They don't even know we have these cards!" 

Mina added, "Well, they'll know once they figure out we bought all this stuff! So...what did you get, Mike?" 

"Well, I took a trip to the computer store and got this. It's the new Dangerous Plan game, supposed to be way cool and all. And you, Serena?" 

"Umm....just a lot of comics, you know. Hey, where's Ami?" 

"Beats me. Where's Chris?" 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Chris was in line at the bookstore with a few books to pay for. As he stood before a number of people waiting for the cashier, Ami just happened to walk by with a few books in her hands too. 

Chris said, "Oh, hi!" 

"Hi! You read too?" Ami replied as she stood behind him. 

"Yeah. So, what have you got there?" 

"Well, I've got Advanced Chemistry and Life Sciences." 

"Cool..." 

"What books are you purchasing?" Ami asked. 

"Um...this one's Advanced Chemitry II and this one is More Life Sciences!! Hmm, isn't that weird?" 

"Yes, I suppose so..." And at that you could almost notice Ami blushing a little. 

It was Chris' turn at the counter. He put the books on the counter and gave the money to the cashier. When the books were put in a bag, Chris took it and stood aside. "C'mon Ami," he said. "Mike wants us in front of the fountain in a few minutes!" 

"Well, all right." Ami replied. Just then, someone behind Ami walked around her and put his books on the counter to be paid for. Chris noticed that and said, "Hey, you cut her!" 

"So what?" the man asked. "Calm down, it's only a space!" He kept on going and reached for some money in his pocket. 

"It doesn't matter," Ami added. "This will only take an extra minute." 

But Chris wasn't listening. At that moment, he gave a good kick to the man's leg, knocking him to the ground. The man gave no response and quickly crawled away. 

"Um...sorry," Chris said. "I just HATE those kinds of people..." 

Ami replied, "It's....OK...I think." 

A voice from outside the store shouted, "Hey, Chris! Ami!" It was Mike along with the others. Ami paid for the books and exited the bookstore with Chris. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

They took the MagLev train back to the FRC building. On the train, Mike opened his bag to reveal a box labeled "Dangerous Plan." 

"This is supposed to be a good game," he said. "I heard there were over half a million copies sold over the weekend! You know that Crawford guy on NewsNetLink? He did a review on it and gave four and a half stars!" 

Kim asked, "Well, what is it about?" 

"It's all about this guy who has to invade a 100-story tower overrun by a powerful enemy known only as NV." 

Mina quickly recognized the reference and replied, "Um...Mike, don't you see some sort of a connection here?" 

"Like what? Ohhhh, no, that's just a coincidence! What harm could a computer game do?" 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

They entered their war room, noticing Riggs, Conolly, and Olivet sitting at a table, doing some work. "Hey, you bring anything back for us?" Riggs asked. 

Serena replied, "Yeah, right. Unless you like comics..." 

Luna noticed the number of shopping bags Kim and Mina were holding, and asked, "How did you pay for all that?" 

"Well," Mina said. "Kim paid for all this using the FRC's account, right Kim?" 

Olivet heard what Mina said and replied, "Ahem, Agent Swann, care for an explanation?" 

"We were, uh, just kidding!" At that, Kim stared blankly at Mina. 

"Oops, sorry..." Mina said quietly. 

Mike came running into the room with the installation disc for his game in his hand. He jumped on Chris and said, "Pleasepleaseplease can I use your computer?" 

"OK! Just get off me!" 

He raced to the computer across the room and quickly inserted the disc. In ten minutes Mike was playing the game. The three agents noticed him as he shouted "Yes!" "Oh, no!" or "What the-----" at the computer. Conolly said, "Hey, we're trying to get some work done here, unlike some people!" 

Having a little fun, Luna sneaked up on Mike and jumped on his head. "Getoffme, getoffme!!" he shouted. When the cat moved away, Mike looked at the montior and saw the words "GAME OVER" all over the screen. He looked at Luna, but she gave a little laugh and said, "Just checking to see if you were aware of your surroundings..." 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

NewsNetLink, four in the morning. The offices were not scheduled to be open for another two hours, so it was just the security guards occupying the building. In the lobby, the main security guard turned on his laptop and linked with the NNL network just to find out what new games were installed so that he could play on his break. He decided that he search Crawford's computer to play that Dangerous Plan game everyone's been talking about. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

NewsNetLink, 6:30 AM. Crawford came in early and used his keys to open the building. On his way to the elevator, he noticed a security guard with a gun in hand. The guard had a weird glow in his eyes. Without a word, he fired a shot from his gun towards Crawford. The reporter quickly dropped his briefcase, ducked, and ran towards the guard, who was firing missed shots. Crawford used all of his power to knock the guard to the floor. Crawford noticed the guard was unconscious as the guard was covered in some sort of darkness and disappeared. The reporter took a deep breath and wondered what that was all about. Then, on the floor, he noticed a laptop turned over. On the monitor read "Dangerous Plan." The screen flashed once and displayed "NegaVerse." 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

New Dorp High School, lunch. Serena and Mike sat together in the cafeteria. 

"Look at this, a 41!" Serena said, holding up a test paper. "Even in New York I can't get a good grade!" 

Mike replied, "And what is that supposed to mean?" 

"Well, I thought everything was so easy around here." 

"It WAS easy, Serena. It was open book." 

Just then, two other students, Kevin and Will, sat down next to Serena and Mike. 

"Hey Mike," Will said. "You hear about that new com-virus?" 

"What virus?" 

Kevin added, "There's this virus that totals an entire computer in twenty-four hours!" 

"The same as any other virus. What's so great about THIS virus?" 

"Nothing, 'cept I hear rumors that people that have these viruses in their computer are missing! I mean, gone!" 

"Yeah, anyway..." 

"Hey, I'm serious, man!" 

Will noticed Serena's test paper and asked, "So, what school DID you get kicked out of?" 

"Oh, be quiet, you...." Serena then hit Will behind the head. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The FRC building. All seven Reality Jumpers, including Luna, walked past the security checkpoints, the elevator, and the hallway to enter the Jumpers' war room. When the door opened, they all noticed the war room was in a mess. Papers were scattered all over the place, electronic screens were shattered, sparks were flying throughout the room. 

"What the ---- happened here?" Jackie said. 

As the Jumpers walked inside the room, a small laser beam was shot from the opposite side of the room and hit Mina's shoulder. "Oww!" she said. "Hey! Over there!" 

She pointed at someone hiding behind a fallen metal beam. The person looked up and fired another shot, this time hitting the wall. Then there was silence. Serena slowly walked up to the metal beam and said, "Guys, there's no one here!" The man had disappeared. 

The Jumpers looked around the room for clues, and then Chris said, "My computer was left on!" Luna walked up to the computer. It was slightly damaged, but the monitor was still functional. "Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike," the cat asked. "Someone's been playing YOUR game!" 

The monitor was flashing "Dangerous Plan" and then "NegaVerse." 

Mina, with her hand on her shoulder, looked at the screen and then added, "I told you, Mike! Weren't you listening to me?!" 

"Sorry, what were the odds?" 

Suddenly, the monitor started to glow, and out of it came a flash of electricity. Everyone ducked for safety. After a few flashes, the monitor turned off. Mike looked up and shouted, "What is going on here?" 

A intercom then sounded, "Jumpers, report to the command center immediately!" 

"Hmm, I bet they know about all this. Let's go!" 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"MOON STAR POWER!" 

"VENUS STAR POWER!" 

"MERCURY STAR POWER!" 

As the Jumpers rushed down the hall to the elevator, three of them transformed into the Sailor Scouts. 

"Think you can be any more obvious?" Kim asked. 

They reached the command center, where Hacker One and his tech staff were working in. "Guys," he said. "Word has it that you bought a new computer game? Dangerous Plan, isn't it?" 

Mike replied, "Yeah, why?" 

"Well, I just found out today the program was infected with a virus before it hit the stores!" 

"Is...this the new virus everyone's talking about?" 

"Afraid so. You must've heard, right? Some missing persons reports were filed and those reports are, I think, connected to this virus. This morning, a security guard over at NewsNetLink tapped into Crawford's computer and played the game. Two hours later, Crawford entered the offices and was attacked by the guard. The man fired a few shots and disappeared." 

"Same thing happened just a few minutes ago," Luna replied. 

"Hmm, someone must've broke into the room and played the game...anyway, police in New York alone have over a hundred-fifty filed reports for missing people! Seventy-eight of them involve acts of violence in all five boroughs right before the disappearances occured. And the number is steadily climbing--" 

"Well," Sailor Venus said. "We think the NegaVerse is behind this." 

"So do I. People who have left their computer on have the word NegaVerse flashing on their monitor. Doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on." 

"Boss," said one of Hacker's crew. "A group of people are teleporting into the lobby!" 

"You know, I was gonna ask where all those missing people are right now!" He turned to the Jumpers and added, "They're all yours!" 

"Yep. All three hundred of them, with more coming in!" Hacker's staff said. 

The team of seven left the room and ran down the hall. "Lobby's to the next left..." Kim thought. The left opening was thirty feet ahead of them. 

At that moment, a gunshot came from the hall to the left leading to the lobby. Everyone stood still as the bullet made a hole in the right wall. They saw a number of shadows on the wall, signaling that they were coming closer and closer. Another blast of fire came from the left opening, also hitting the wall. 

"OK, I've got an idea," Mike said. The Jumpers backed up and armed their weapons, waiting for the enemy to appear. The first person with a weapon appeared as he walked out of the opening. He was knocked to the ground by Kim's fire gun. The man dropped his gun and disappeared. Quickly, more people ran out of the opening and fired their own weapons. Luckily they were firing in all the wrong directions. Sailor Moon took off her tiara and said, 

"MOON TIARA.....MAGIC!" 

The headpiece was in the air as Sailor Venus added to the attack, 

"VENUS....CRESCENT BEAM....SMASH!" 

The tiara and the energy beam joined together as it hit the incoming crowd. The blast affected fifty or sixty enemies as they disappeared as well. 

Three or four people moved up to the front line and fired laser guns towards the Jumpers. "Oh, I almost forgot!" Mike said. He reached into his pocket and out came Jake's mirror. The laser beam were coming closer. "What was the command? WHAT WAS THE COMMAND?!? Oh, yeah..." 

"MIRROR....REFLECT!" 

The mirror expanded and shielded the Jumpers from injury. The energy beams reflected off the mirror and fired back towards the enemy. A considerable amount of people disappeared after being hit by the counter-attack. It didn't stop the rest, though, from continuing the attack. They were about twenty-five feet, and coming closer. 

Chris said, "Ami, I got an idea..." He reached for his water cannon and aimed water at a 45 degree angle so that it reached the ceiling. A large amount of water was falling from the ceiling and Chris was still firing water towards the ceiling. Sailor Mercury quickly got the point. 

"MERCURY ICE BUBBLES....FREEZE!" 

The bubbles hit the water, creating a sheet of ice between the enemy and the Reality Jumpers. The sheet was so thick that you cannot see through it. The attack was stopped and silence entered the hallway; nothing tried to break through the sheet of ice. After a minute, Kim fired her gun to melt the ice. When they were able to see through, they noticed no one was there. They had all disappeared, leaving the weapons behind. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"You'll never win," said Jake, who was still restrained to a chair. He had been kept prisoner inside the NegaVerse for almost four days. "I just saw what happened, your men got wasted!" 

"On the contrary," replied Queen Beryl. "Those are just a small part of my new army, thanks to what you call a computer. Now I have thousands of slaves, all waiting for my next command! You see, I'm just preparing for what's up ahead, and in a few days I will take over your precious universe, and all the other universes yours is protecting!!" 

TO BE CONTINUED.... 


	11. It's in the Game

Episode 11: It's in the Game

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 11: Crossroads I - It's in the Game 

(AOL users, you know what I mean) 

"All attack units, defense positions until further notice!! This is not a drill! I repeat, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!" 

The FRC building, Friday afternoon. The lobby was still under repair from the Saturday attack when Queen Beryl came blazing through the building's ground floor, again. As she wrecked havoc across the offices of the ground floor, the leader of the NegaVerse was screaming, "Where are those Sailor Scouts?!? Where are those....Reality Jumpers?!?" 

"Freeze!!" Riggs and Conolly shouted while holding guns behind Queen Beryl. "FBI!!" 

She turned around and simply swept them away with a wave of her hand. Continuing her search, she reached the command center, where Hacker One and thirty of his technical staff were all holding weapons. 

"Fire!" Hacker said when Queen Beryl entered the room. All thirty-one weapons went off and were aimed at Queen Beryl, but nothing seemed to inflict damage on her when she became protected by her force field. She walked around, oblivious to the gun fire. The gun fire had stopped once they realized nothing was working. Just then, the Reality Jumpers, the Sailor Scouts, and their cat, Luna, ran in the room. 

"I was almost becoming...disappointed," Queen Beryl said. "I thought you'd run away or something." 

The team of eight did not say a word except when Sailor Venus shouted, 

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM.....SMASH!" 

The energy beam flew across the room and made contact with Queen Beryl, but was quickly absorbed. "Did I ever tell you," she replied. "That you can never defeat me? Hmm...I think I will finish you once and for all!" She raised her hands as a strong current of wind entered the room, lifting everyone but Queen Beryl off the ground. As the Jumpers and Hacker's men spun around the room, one was flown across the room and into a control panel. The machine connected to the panel activated and caused a giant portal opened up. It was large enough to cover the entire room. Everyone, including Queen Beryl, was sucked inside. No one was left inside the room once the portal closed. 

------------------------------------------------------------ 

They were outside. A crowd surrounded the group of fallen people who had just appeared out of nowhere. The crowd of people were dressed in some sort of medieval clothing. Whispers among the crowd included, "This is the work of magic, I tell you!" "What odd clothing, where do they come from?" "This is terrible, thirty-nine of them..." and "This is the second incident this week!!" 

They all became surprised when Hacker One sat up. He looked at the crowd and then back down at the rest of his crew and the Jumpers, both groups unconscious. Hacker shook Mike until he opened his eyes. Mike also stood up and said, "W-what's going on....?" 

One by one, everyone stood up from the ground; Hacker's men, the Jumpers, the Scouts, and Luna. The crowd surrounding them became terrified and confused, wondering what is going on. One of the people on the outside of the crowd shouted, "He's here! He's coming!" 

The people made an opening for the man who came in riding on horseback. The man got off his horse and approached the ones lying on the ground. He said, "Good sirs, do you need assistance?" 

A confused Hacker asked, "Who are you?" 

"Yeah," Sailor Moon added. "And where are we?" 

"Fair lady," the man replied. "I am Lord Nasher. You are in the city of Neverwinter. And may I ask how you ended up in my land?" 

"We were wondering if you can tell us," Chris said. 

------------------------------------------------------------ 

A half hour passed. The lost FRC'ers went inside Lord Nasher's castle to rest. There, Lord Nasher told his story. 

"Not long ago, a girl and her cat was also found in Neverwinter Square, unaware of the surroundings as you all were when you ended up here as well. She spoke in a....strange tongue, none of my men could understand what she was saying. Even more strange was when her cat also started talking in the same language as she was. Although we knew nothing about her, or her about us, we still wanted to help, so we gave her room and board at the Red Mage Inn. In the next few days, we trained her to do battle in the surrounding areas of Neverwinter, but it seemed she already knew how to fight and to cast magic. She created an impressive display of lightning, you know." 

Everyone thought, "Could it be? Another Scout?" 

Lord Nasher continued, "Yesterday her cat was found in the warehouse district of Neverwinter. The animal was bruised and injured in a few places. It soon came to our attention that the girl had disappeared. My patrolmen was told to search everywhere north of the city; the Windycliffs, Port Llast, and every other hidden area they would be able to find. They...have not returned since. I fear for both the girl and my officers." 

"Don't worry, we'll find them," Sailor Moon replied. 

At that moment, the cat Lord Nasher was talking about walked in. It was covered with bandages in a few places, and it limped while entering the room. Luna looked closely and said, "Artemis?!?" 

Artemis looked back at Luna and weakly replied, "L-luna, is that you? H-how did you get here?" 

Lord Nasher stood up, "This is truly unusual! Before we could not understand a word this cat said! And now BOTH animals are communicating? What magic is this??" 

Hacker looked down at his wrist translator, looked back up and said, "Heh....long story....umm, could we be left alone for a minute?" 

Nasher sighed and said, "Very well..." He left the room and closed the door behind him. 

------------------------------------------------------------ 

Outside, on the road to Floodblest. A few adventurers noticed a fallen woman in the road ahead of them. They put down their spears and ran to help the woman. When they reached her, she looked up and said weakly, "W-what is this place?" 

One of the adventurers replied, "You are on the road to Floodblest. There's an inn up ahead, would you us to get you there? The platinum's on us." 

"No, you fools..." The woman waved her hand towards the adventurers, and in a second they also fell to the ground. "The Scouts and the Jumpers are near, I can sense it," she added. "I must find them!" 

------------------------------------------------------------ 

"It is great to see you again," Artemis said as he lay on a seat cushion. "We thought we'd never see each other again." 

"Speaking of we," Sailor Venus replied. "Where's Lita?" 

"Well, yesterday, early in the morning, before the sun came up, we were walking together outside this city. Neverwinter, right? Anyways, a band of men with knives jumped on us and attacked us! Lita, I mean, Sailor Jupiter was just about to attack with her lightning, but her hands and feet were quickly tied up with rope. The last thing I knew was that she was taken away as those men took her north of here. And then I ended up back here at the castle." 

Kim added, "We gotta find her and the others! Who knows what might also be out there!!" 

"Hold it," Mike said. "Even if we do find them, we'll still be trapped here! We got no track-and-return device, remember?" 

"Don't you have any faith in me, Mike?" Hacker One replied. "My men are always equipped with FRC-class equipment!" 

"You mean, you can get us out of here?" 

"Sure! Give us eight hours, and--" 

All the Jumpers shouted, "EIGHT HOURS?!?" 

"Hey, I didn't say it was ready to work!" Hacker turned to his crew and added, "Johnson?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Lead the project." 

"Yes, sir." 

"The rest of you, set up the device." 

"Yes, sir!" 

------------------------------------------------------------ 

Ten minutes later, the team of seven were led by Nasher out of Neverwinter. He guided them as far as the Windycliffs. As they walked, Sailor Moon said, "Thanks, we'll take it from here." 

"Nonsense," Lord Nasher replied. "These are dangerous areas, it is simply not wise to let a band of youths traverse them." 

Kim took out her gun and said, "Whatever you say, Lord Nasher. Duck, will ya?" At that she fired in Nasher's direction. He ducked, avoiding the blast. The blast continued across the sky to hit a thief who had a knife drawn behind Lord Nasher. The thief screamed as his left arm became covered with fire. He ran and disappeared. 

As he looked up, Nasher said, "Amazing! Well, I'm convinced. Just get my men safely back to Neverwinter, OK?" He turned and left for Neverwinter. 

------------------------------------------------------------ 

It had become dark over the land. The Jumpers and the Scouts had reached Port Llast. Tired, they stopped at a door with a sign over it labeled, "Griffon Inn." They walked in and approached the innkeeper. Mike said, "We would like a room for the night." 

The innkeeper put out his hand and said, "Well?" 

Realizing he wanted money, Mike reached into his pocket and grabbed a twenty-dollar bill. He gave it to the innkeeper. Confused, the innkeeper replied, "Young man, it is two pieces of platinum to stay here for the night! If you cannot come up with that, I'm afraid you must leave!" 

At that moment, someone also entered the door, saying, "I'll pay for these people, innkeeper, if you don't mind." 

"Hopefully you can come up with the platinum, good sir?" 

The man handed two round coins to the innkeeper. 

"Very well. Follow me." 

The team followed the innkeeper, and the man who gave the money followed them. Sailor Venus turned to the man and asked, "Who are you? Why did you help us?" 

"My name is Haljal. I assume you are looking for Nasher's patrolmen, including one certain girl?" 

"How do you know?" 

"Because they were seen around this part of the country. I think I know where they are, and I'll direct you there, provided I could have a space in your room for the night?" 

------------------------------------------------------------ 

The team of eight, including the one called Haljal, had gathered together in the room. Haljal told the story, "Yesterday, a band of thieves had entered Port Llast. They were holding a girl by the hand, and boy was she tough! Almost got away from them, I tell you. I ran to help the girl, but one of them drew a knife at me. I just ran away, but I saw they were going in the direction of that ghost ship, the Gallant Prince. Today, I saw another group of men walking into Port Llast. Their clothing told me they were Neverwinter patrolmen. I asked what they were doing, they said they were looking for a girl. I pointed them in the direction of the Gallant Prince, and with some reluctance on their part, they headed in that direction. I've been watching the door leading to the dock holding that ship, no one has come out since. And then you all came along." 

"Can you show us where this ship is?" Sailor Mercury asked. 

"I would, but now that I have told you this story, it all sounds like it might mean your deaths." 

Chris stood up, "Please, you must take us there! What harm could a ship do?" 

"I could tell you the story of the Gallant Prince itself, but it would take too long. Hmm, very well, I guess I will show it to you in the morning." 

------------------------------------------------------------ 

Early next morning, the Scouts and the Jumpers, along with Haljal, walked outside to the road leading to Port Llast's docks. They stood in front of a door that led to the docks. On the door was a sign that read, "DO NOT ENTER!!" 

"No adventurer heeds that warning," Haljal said. "And because of that, few ever return from that cursed boat!" 

Chris armed his gun and replied, "Then maybe we'll have better luck. Don't worry, we'll find them." 

The team of seven opened the door slowly. It led to a hall with another door on the opposite end. As they opened it they saw someone on the ground, holding a spear in his hand. He was covered with blood, and it was obvious he was dead. At the sight of it, Kim and Sailor Moon almost screamed, but quickly held it back. Mike turned and said, "Do you mind?" 

They walked out into the docks, where only one ship was connected to its' walkway. With caution, they walked into the boat. As they entered the ship, they noticed it was dark, with few candles lighting the halls of the haunted Gallant Prince. They all wondered why the candles are still burning. The Jumpers continued to walk down the hall, opening doors and peeking inside. They found nothing in the first few rooms they opened. 

Suddenly, Sailor Venus stepped on a weakened wooden board and fell into the hole that was made. Quickly, Mike grabbed Sailor Venus by the hand and shouted, "Hold on! I got you!!" After a second, Mike lifted Sailor Venus up and out of the hole. 

As she got to the ground, she said, "Thanks..." 

"Eh. No prob," Mike replied as his face turned slightly red. 

They walked around the hole and continued down the hall. After checking all the empty rooms, the Jumpers and the Scouts walked to the end of the hall, where one more door remained. They opened it, and through the doorway they could see a number of people on the ground, unconscious. The Sailor Scouts could recognize one of them. 

"It's Lita!" Sailor Moon shouted. She ran inside the room, and as she took the first step inside the room, a few bugbears, armed with spears and battle axes, appeared out of nowhere and attacked Sailor Moon. The rest of the team jumped in to help. As the battle progressed, the fallen people on the ground woke up. As the girl looked up, she shouted, "Hey, you leave them alone!" The girl stood up and added, 

"JUPITER THUNDER.....CRASH!" 

Lightning came from the girl's fingertips and traveled across the room. While it hit Chris and Jackie, it electrocuted all of the bugbears in the room. They stopped attacking as they turned into dust, leaving their weapons behind. 

At the same time, Chris and Jackie fell to the ground and said, "W-what the hell was that?!?" 

Sailor Moon turned and said, "Lita!! It is you!" 

The girl they called Lita smiled and replied, "H-hi, guys! I thought I'd never see you guys again!" 

But Mike was thinking about something else. "How did those things come out of nowhere? Kim, give me your gun." As he grabbed the gun from Kim, he put his arm out of the doorway, and another group of bugbears appeared. This time he noticed very small streaks of light traveling from where they stood to a wall on the opposite side of the room. "I knew it!" he shouted. Ignoring the bugbears, he fired the gun towards the wall. As the fire penetrated the wall, it revealed a machine behind the wall. Quickly, Mike fired again towards the machine. In seconds it burned up and the bugbears disappeared. 

He handed the gun back to Kim, ran to the machine, examined it, and added, "Solid holographic projector!! I can't believe anyone would fall for that!!" 

Jackie ran to one of the patrolmen on the ground and said, "Hey man, you OK?" 

"Y-yes, I am fine. Thank you for helping us." 

"Sure, anytime. Where are those thieves?" 

"They disappeared, we never saw them again. I don't understand their intention in bringing us here..." 

"Well, you're here, right? So let's get out of here!" 

------------------------------------------------------------ 

Early afternoon. The Reality Jumpers and the Sailor Scouts, who have found one more member in their still incomplete team, were escorted back to Lord Nasher's castle with the help of his no longer missing patrolmen. There, Lord Nasher said, "I want to thank you for returning my officers. Neverwinter is in your debt." He turned to Sailor Jupiter and added, "Now, I take it you will be returning with these kind people?" 

"Yeah, I sure will! Uh...I mean, the stay here was OK, but..." 

"Oh, don't worry, I know what you mean. So, when will you be departing from my presence?" 

Hacker One and his men entered the room, "As soon as possible, IF you guys are ready?" 

"We sure are!" Mike replied. 

Suddenly, a burst of light filled the room. It was then when Queen Beryl stormed into the room. She screamed, "You're not going anywhere!!" 

Nasher shouted, "Royal guards! Arrest that creature!" 

As three guards approached Queen Beryl with spears in hand, she replied, "I think not!" Without a movement from her, the guards were thrown to the ground. But she wasn't aware of something. 

"MOON TIARA.....MAGIC!" 

Sailor Moon's tiara flew across the room and struck Queen Beryl down. Hacker One also reacted. "Get her!" 

"Yes, sir!" Hacker's tech staff reached for their guns and fired at full force. The energy beams made contact with Queen Beryl. She disappeared from the room, saying, "Fools! I WILL be back! Count on that!!" 

The room now had one less person to deal with. 

Hacker added, "Unfortunately she's not dead, but we won't hear from her the rest of today!" 

Lord Nasher said, "You outsiders have amazed me! It is a pity you do not live in these parts. We would make a great team together." 

"Yeah, well, this doesn't mean we won't see each other again, right?" He grabbed a remote control from his pocket and said, "The machine we set up is over here, guys. Ready to go?" 

Everybody went to the next room, where a machine was set up. With the remote, Hacker opened a portal in the machine and directed his men to go in. He gave the control to Mike and said, "Make sure everyone's through, 'k?" Then he jumped in and disappeared. 

Kim turned to Nasher and said, "Thanks, it was fun!" She jumped and disappeared as well. 

"Most interesting world, maybe I'll come here another time..." Chris said as he walked into the portal. 

"Well, gotta go!" Sailor Venus said while holding Artemis when she leaped into the gateway. 

"I'd better do the same," Jackie was saying as she walked in. "Later!" 

Sailor Moon also jumped with Luna in her arms, but before she did, she said, "Yeah, I guess it was fun!" 

"Thanks for everything, Lord Nasher," Sailor Jupiter said. "C'mon, Mercury!" She took her by the arm as they both jumped in and disappeared. 

The only one left, Mike turned to Lord Nasher, saying, "Unfortunately, I got nothing to say!" 

Lord Nasher smiled and replied, "Well, if we cross roads again, then maybe you'll come up with something to say, right?" 

"Heh, maybe. Until then...." As the portal closed, Mike ran in and left Neverwinter. 

TO BE CONTINUED..... 


	12. The Night Out

Episode 12: The Night Out

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 12: The Night Out 

(WARNING: This is another one of those breaks from the main story plot) 

It was three in the morning. Mike woke up when he heard noises coming from downstairs. He got up from the beanbag he was sleeping in and decided to see what was up. He left the room with a stun gun in hand, but not before he could take a look at Mina, who was sleeping in his bed. 

Slowly Mike walked down the stairs and walked in the direction the noises were coming from. It led him to the kitchen. Mike peeked in and noticed the refrigerator door wide open. He turned on the stun gun and ran in the doorway. But he turned off the weapon when he realized who it was. 

"Artemis, it's three in the morning!" 

"I was hungry! I'm looking for cat food." 

"I don't have a cat." 

"Yeah, that's right. Well, for now you have me." 

"You say that as if it was a good thing. I have milk, you want that?" 

"Please?" 

Mike pulled a carton of milk from the top shelf of the refrigerator. He also grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and poured the milk into it. He laid it on the table, where Artemis was sitting. 

As Mike sat down, the cat said, "So, why is Mina and I sleeping in your house?" 

"Does it matter?" 

"Not really. But she could've asked, what's their names? Oh, yeah, Jackie, or Kim, if she could stay there..." 

"No she couldn't. I asked Mina to stay here." 

At that, Artemis stopped drinking the milk. He walked up to Mike and stared at him. 

"What?" Mike said. 

"..................." 

"WHAT?" 

"..............No. Too obvious," and the cat turned away and jumped off the table. 

"C'mon, tell me!" 

"Well, if I'm right," Artemis said as he left the kitchen. "I bet you won't get anywhere with her, know what I mean?" 

"What're you talking about?" Mike said. But he knew exactly what the cat was talking about. He sighed and sat back in his chair. "D*mn, that cat's right!" he thought. "But what'll Mina say if I do ask?" 

Still awake, he turned on the radio. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"Do I Have To Say The Words?" 

Bryan Adams 

(lyrics edited) 

Rescue me from the mind 

Whisper words of desire 

Rescue me, darling rescue me 

Rescue me from despair 

Tell me you will be there 

Help me please, darling rescue me 

With this world closing in 

There's no need to pretend 

Rescue me, darling rescue me 

I don't want to let you go 

So I'm standing in your way 

I never needed anyone 

Like I needed you today 

Do I have to say the words? 

Do I have to tell the truth? 

Do I have to shout it out? 

Do I have to say a prayer? 

I must've proved to you 

How good we are together 

But do I have to say the words? 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

With the stun gun in hand, Mike fired at the radio, destroying it in an instant. He sighed again and said, "I'm going to bed..." 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Staten Island Mall, Saturday noon. Mike was in the music store, looking at the latest music charts, when Serena entered the store. "Hey, Mike!" she said. 

"Hi, Serena," Mike replied. "How did you get here?" 

"Well, we all decided to go to the mall today." 

"We? Who's we?" 

"Hmm, me, Lita, Kim, Mina, and J--" 

Mike jumped when she heard that word. "Mina? Where is she?" 

"...ackie. Huh? Oh, we all split up, but I heard Mina went to have some lunch. Wish I could...I don't have enough money for food! Say, could I borrow some---hey, where are you going?!?" 

Mike didn't hear Serena's last sentence because he was running out of the store and up the escalator. On the way, he could almost tell that was Kim walking by with a few shopping bags in her hand. In fact, he ran into her, causing all of her merchandise to fly into the air and back down, all scattered on the ground. 

She tripped too, shouting, "Watch where you're going!" 

Mike continued running, shouting back, "Sorry!" 

When he knew he was near the food court, he slowed down to a walking speed. Mike bought some fries and a drink. Carrying it with a tray, he looked around "for a table." 

But he could hear Mina's voice. "Mike! Over here!" 

He followed that voice and it led Mike to the table Mina was sitting at. 

He smiled and said, "Heh. What a coincidence! S'ok if I sit here?" 

"Sure!" Mina replied as she smiled back. "Are you tired?" she asked when Mike gave a yawn. 

"S-something kept me awake in the middle of the night..." 

"Artemis, right?" 

"Yeah! How'd you know?" 

"He told me this morning." 

"Uppt.....w-what else did he tell you?" 

"Nothing, 'cept that you gave him some milk last night." 

Mike gave a sigh of relief. 

"There something I should know?" 

"No....NO! Of course not! Just wanted to know..." 

"Oh....." 

It quickly became quiet between the two. After a minute, Mike finally said, "You've ever been around the city?" 

"Not actually, why?" 

"Well, I could...........show you around later tonight." 

"...........Are you asking me out?" 

"No! Why would I---yeah, I am..." 

As embarrassed as Mike looked, Mina smiled and replied, "I'd love to." 

"R-really!?" Mike said as he stood up. 

"Yeah, I'll meet you back at the house around....7?" 

"That'd be good, see ya later." At that he left the table. 

Mina stared at Mike blankly as he walked out. "That's weird," she thought. "He didn't even take a bite out of his lunch..." 

Mike had a big smile on his face when he exited of the food court. As he walked out, he saw Jackie and Lita staring at him. 

"What?" Mike said. 

Jackie replied, "Is this the 'I could show you around the city' bit?" 

"You were spying on us, weren't you?" 

"Oh, don't you change the subject on me!" 

"So, when?" Lita asked. 

"Seven o'clock." 

Lita turned to Jackie and said, "I give him two hours." 

"You kidding? I'd only give him one." 

Mike interrupted, "Excuse me, ladies? How about I make it the entire night!?" 

At that, both Jackie and Lita laughed. "Oh come on," Jackie said. "I know you WAY better than that." 

"Yeah," Lita added. "And I know Mina better. Believe me, you won't get anywhere with her." 

Mike replied, "You know, that's what Artemis said! Listen, everything'll be fine! I have everything worked out!" 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"I'm through," Mike said back in his room. It had just turned 6:30. "I don't even know where we should go tonight!" 

"You told me you had everything planned," Artemis replied. "I told you, you'll get nowhere! Is it OK if I spell it out for you?" 

Mike sighed and added, "Do you annoy Mina like this at home?" 

"Not quite. You're a much easier target." 

"Hmm, what to do, what to do..." Quickly, he opened his desk drawer. After a minute of searching, Mike pulled out a number of dollar bills totaling $250. "Never thought I'd use this. This'll cover dinner and a movie..." 

"THIS is your plan? Doesn't this kind of thing require a bit more....thinking?" 

"What do I look like....Chris? Besides, I still got a half hour more to think this over, right?" 

Suddenly, Artemis and Mike heard a door open and close. "I'm back!" Mina said from down the stairs. 

"So much for that," Artemis said. 

"Oh, be quiet, cat," Mike replied. 

Mina entered Mike's bedroom with a number of shopping bags in her hands as she threw them all onto the floor. "I need clothes, all my other ones are back home!" 

"No kidding," Mike said. "You gonna wear one of those tonight?" 

"Of course! So, where are we going tonight?" 

"Well, I was thinking we'd go to the Colonnade for dinner, then later we'll catch a movie at the UA theater..." 

"That'd be great! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go wash my hair and change clothes..." At that Mina took a set of clothing from a shopping bag and left the room. 

"Am I lucky or what?" Mike asked to Artemis. 

"Just the beginning," Artemis replied. "Just the beginning..." 

"I'll be downstairs, bye!" Mike too left the room. 

The cat watched Mike leave and close the door behind him. Artemis walked across the bed he was sitting on to a table with a phone on it. With his nose, he lifted the handle off the receiver. He also managed to press the buttons marked "SpkrPhone" "Jake" with his nose as well. After a few rings coming from the receiver, a voice came through. "Hello?" the voice said. 

"Serena? Is that you?" Artemis asked. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"Ready to go?" Mike asked while outside with Mina. 

"Sure!" Mina replied. They walked on the sidewalk on the way to the Mag-Lev train that would lead them to the restaurant. 

As they walked, Mike commented, "You look nice." 

"Thanks. You too." 

"Really? This is just the same clothes I wore this afternoon!" 

"It looks good on you anyways." 

"Well, I wish I could've wore something else." 

"Doesn't matter. It's not like a really big date, right?" 

Mike quickly became down. "Heh, right..." 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"This way, please," a man said to Mike and Mina. He was directing them to a table at the restaurant. He handed them their menus as they sat down and said, "Someone will see you in a minute, OK?" 

"Thanks," Mike said. They both looked at their menu. 

Mina asked, "I'm not really used to all this American food. What do you think is good?" 

"Hmm, well, the alfredo fettucine is good around here." 

"OK." At that she put down the menu. 

Mike thought to himself, "Mike, this is getting nowhere fast! What do I do?" 

At that moment, two people walked in. Mike recognized the two. It was Chris and Ami. 

"What a coincidence," Chris said. 

Ami added, "Yes, it is. Mina, when did you get here?" 

"Just now," Mina replied suspiciously. 

Mike just stared at Chris. Chris asked, "What?" 

"I don't like coincidences, you know that." 

Chris smiled and swung his arm back and forth, slapping Mike and Mina's table. "C'mon, we came here to eat, OK?" 

".......OK. Have fun." 

Chris and Ami walked further inside the restaurant so that the couple couldn't see them. They walked up to a table with other people in it. Specifically, it was all the other Jumpers. "OK, the bug is in place." 

Kim said, "Will it work from here?" 

"Yeah." 

Serena looked up from her menu and asked, "Hey, can we order NOW?" 

"Is that all you ever think about?" everyone else replied. 

Chris and Ami sat down, and Chris pulled out a remote control with an antenna on it. He turned it on and static came through the receiver. Finally, a conversation was transmitted. 

"It'll take, like, twenty minutes before the food gets here," Mike said. 

"That's fine," Mina replied. 

It became quiet again. 

Forty-five minutes later. Both tables had their food served. The Jumpers were still listening to Mike and Mina's conversation. 

"Remind me to use this whenever I need help falling asleep," Jackie said. 

Kim added, "Yeah, I thought Mike was more of a conversation maker." 

At the other table, Mina dropped her knife on the floor. "Oops," she said. 

"I'll get it," Mike replied. He bent down to get the fallen knife, but as he looked up, he could see something sticking to the bottom side of the table. "I knew it," he thought. 

When he sat back up, he looked at Mina and put his finger over his mouth. Mike then pointed underneath the table. Mina looked as well. A surprised look on her face showed when she looked back up. 

Mike whispered so that the bug couldn't pick it up, "Just play along." And then he said out loud, "Mina, if I told you...I really liked you, would you believe me?" 

Mina laughed, knowing this was all just to get the rest of the Jumpers back, and replied, "Of course! And...would you believe me if I really liked you too?" 

"Wow. Now we're getting somewhere," Lita said. 

"Eek!" Serena shouted. "What is that?" 

Everyone turned and said, "What? What?" 

"There's something in the food!" 

At once, they all groaned. "Um, Serena," Chris replied. "That's just an onion." 

"What a coincidence, eh?" Mike asked. 

Still giggling, Mina replied, "Yeah, who would've thought?" 

When the waiter came by, Mike requested for the check. He turned to Mina and added, "Want to go to the movies now?" 

"Oh, I'll go anywhere with you!" 

"This is getting too weird," Jackie said. 

"Yeah," Kim replied. "Everything went from mild to wild in a matter of minutes!" 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Mike and Mina, while holding hands just in case the others were still watching, walked out of the restaurant. 

"You think they bought it?" Mina said. 

"I think so. Man, they thought they could get away with spying!" 

"How did they know that we were here?" 

"I don't know, but I'll bet my next allowance they'll be at the movie theater. C'mon, we'd better continue this act!" 

Mike thought to himself, "This is great! This is my chance to get closer. Am I lucky or what?" 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"You said you loved me!" 

"I did, but she was more attractive than you! And her clothes..." 

"You.......jerk!" 

"Hey, I could've sworn this movie got five stars," Mike said. The couple was at the movie theater. Half of the time, Mike and Mina weren't paying any attention to the movie. They were relying on their peripheral vision to see if the others were there. Mike whispered to Mina, "They're one row behind us. To the right." 

Mina turned her head to face Mike, but moved her eyes slightly to see the other Jumpers. Quickly, the Jumpers looked in the opposite direction. 

"You think they saw us?" Serena asked. 

"Doubt it," Kim replied. "They're probably just admiring each other." 

"I'm going to get a snack," Mike said. "Want anything?" 

"No, thanks." 

Mike stood up and quietly moved out of the row to the left. After a minute, he came back with a box of chocolates. He sat down and quietly ate them. "Sure you don't want any?" Mike asked as he held the box towards Mina. 

"Well.......OK," Mina replied. She took a handful of chocolates from the box and ate some. 

"I guess it's just Mike to be generous," Chris said. 

Ami added, "Yeah, and it's rare for Mina to refuse an offer." 

As soon as Mike finished the chocolates, he looked inside the box. "Aw, cool!" he said as he pulled something from the bottom of the box. "A surprise!" He removed the wrapping secretly and revealed a toy ring. Mike revealed it in the little light in the theater to show what it looked like. 

Lita looked surprised. "Is....is that real?" 

"I don't believe this," Jackie said. "He got a ring for Mina already!?" 

"I don't wear jewelry," Mike said to Mina. "You want this?" 

Mina smiled and replied, "Well, OK!" She took it out of Mike's hand and placed it on her finger. Jokingly, she added, "Ooh, it's pretty!" 

"I'm outta here," Kim said as she got out of her seat. 

Serena also stood up and said, "Yeah, this is WAY past the level of weird!" 

One by one, the other Jumpers left their seats and exited the movie theater. 

Mike turned around and said, "Hmm, they're gone..." 

"Yeah, what happened?" Mina asked. They looked towards the screen and finished the movie. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Mike and Mina took the Mag-Lev back to the house. On their way home, Mike said, "I bet we surprised them," 

"Yeah, me too," Mina replied. 

"Should we break the news to them tomorrow?" 

"No......I kinda liked this. Well, at first this was supposed to be a joke, but, you know, I enjoyed going this fast." 

Mike was surprised. He smiled and said, "W-wha...?" 

Mina blushed and smiled as well. They looked at each other, and slowly they got closer, and closer.... 

At that moment, Mina put her hand over Mike's mouth, saying, "Not too fast, you know." 

"Yeah..." Mike replied. "C'mon, let's go home." 

But both Mike and Mina thought, "YES!" 

TO BE CONTINUED.... 


	13. Shadows of the Past

Episode 13: Shadows of the Past

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 13a: Shadows of the Past 

"Help me...." 

This is the dream state of all existence. 

"Help me....please..." 

All thought, human and non-human, travel through here. 

"Help me....." 

These are thoughts of Jake Tyler. Obviously, he's in pain. 

"Please....help me...." 

Fortunately, this thought traveled a bit too far. 

"....Lisa...." 

Lisa suddenly woke up, all nervous and frightened. She looked at the earth outside her bedroom window, and realized she was still on SpaceCol 3. She then looked at the clock. It was 2 AM, Sunday morning, if you were relying on the New Eastern Standard Time. 

"Man, third time this week!" she thought. "Is Jake really in trouble? C'mon, it's just a dream!" But she became worried. She picked up the videocom remote from the table next to her bed and dialed a number. On the video screen on the opposite side of the bed, a face appeared. 

"Hello?" Serena said, responding to the videocom. 

"Sorry, wrong number," Lisa said as she turned the videocom off. She dialed a second number, and another face appeared on the screen. "Chris, sorry to bother you." 

"Lisa? Is that you? It's 2 AM! What's up?" Chris replied. 

"Yeah, I know, I better make this fast, it's long distance." 

"Sure is, being ALL the way up there in orbit and all..." 

"Whatever. Tell me, where's Jake?" 

"............." 

"Chris?" 

"Sorry to break it to you, but he's dead." 

"No, that's not true!" 

"He was killed last Monday." 

"No, really! I can sense him! In my dreams!" 

"Of course, in your dreams..." 

"I'm not kidding here!" 

"I'm not either. He died....while saving two other people from a cave-in." 

"You mean in the NegaVerse?" 

"...........H-how did you know that?" 

"I told you, I can sense him in my dreams! I don't know how, though. Look, I'm coming down on the next ship, I'll call you to see what time I should be there." 

"Well, OK..." 

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

JFK International Space/Airport. International/SpaceCol Arrivals Terminal. Chris, Jackie, and Kim were at the airport. 

"What!?" Kim said. 

"Yeah," Chris replied. "At least that's what Lisa thinks. I had to tell you now because you wouldn't believe me before we all left." 

"Lisa?" Jackie asked. "Why would she think that?" 

"Look, the story doesn't hold water," Chris added. "But she knows about the NegaVerse! Something's up!" 

At that moment, a voice from a speaker said, "Eastern AirWays, flight SC3-149, departed from SpaceCol 3, is now arriving at gate 14." 

"Well, that's Lisa's ship. Let's go!" 

Gate 14. A number of people walked down the hallway from the ship to the gate. The Jumpers recognized one of them. Chris put his hand up and shouted, "Hey! Lisa!" 

Lisa, with a backpack strapped on her back, walked out of the gate. She waved towards the Jumpers and ran to them. "Hi, guys!" 

The others replied, "Lisa." 

If there was a smile on her face, it disappeared quickly. "Man, it's been a while, eh?" 

Jackie added, "Not long enough." 

"Yeah, you still have the nerve to show up?" Kim commented. 

"Oh, will you please forget about all that? It's almost been a year!" 

"Uh, ladies," Chris jumped in. "We're on official business, so do you mind?" 

It quickly became silent between the four. "Well, now that we have that settled, could we please get back to the city?" 

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The group of four took a Mag-Lev back to the city. Most of the trip was silent, until Chris asked to Lisa, "It really doesn't look like they're going to forget, know what I mean, so you'd better be telling the truth, Lisa." 

"I am telling the truth!" Lisa replied. "Why would I lie about Jake?" 

Jackie interrupted, "Because unlike you, we were there for him. We don't go take off and leave for the space colonies!" 

"It was too late! I had already applied for the colonies WAY before that happened!" 

"Yeah, just trying to make excuses." 

Lisa quickly became angry, "You want to settle it here, now?" 

Chris stood up from his seat and shouted, "HEY! I don't believe this.....look, a train moving at 200 miles an hour is not the place for violence! Now, why don't we just sit down and shut up?" 

Jackie and Lisa looked away from each other and said, "Fine." 

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The FRC building's main entrance, noon. The four walked up to the security checkpoint. Chris, Jackie, and Kim held their ID cards up to the guard. Chris said, "Um...we need a visitor's pass for..." 

"No need," Lisa interrupted. She opened her backpack and, to the Jumpers' surprise, showed her own ID card to the guard. "It's inactive, but I'll wait." 

The officer grabbed the card from her hand and said, "Just a minute, miss." 

As the guard inspected it, Chris turned his head towards Lisa and shouted, "You never told us you were with the FRC!" 

"You didn't either, I wouldn't talk." 

"OK, miss, here's your card. It's been temporarily reactivated, you should be able to use it for the next 48 hours." 

"Thanks," and Lisa took back her ID card. 

In the elevator, Kim whispered, "So, anything else we don't know about you?" 

Lisa was already annoyed by Kim and Jackie, "Don't you mess with me, Kim! I've already had enough of your lip at the airport and the ride back!!" 

The argument among Lisa, Kim, and Jackie continued as they rode in the elevator and walked down the hall to the war room. They kept on screaming even as they entered the war room, where Serena, Ami, and Lita were waiting. 

Chris attempted to scream above the three, "HEY! HOLD IT!" And at that the argument stopped. He faced the three girls waiting in the room and added, "Well, I believe you haven't met Lisa here." 

The three waved. 

"Hi, I'm Ami." 

"Lita." 

"Sere--hey! You were that one on the phone last night!" 

Lisa took a closer look at Serena and said, "I DID dial the right number! What's going on, Chris?" 

"Well...um...you see..." Chris said nervously. 

"Why was this girl sleeping over at Jake's house?" 

"Heh...long story...really, REALLY long story." 

Jackie spoke up again, "Well, obviously Jake didn't want to wait too long for you, know what I mean?" 

"You got a real attitude, you know that!?" 

And the fighting continued once more between the three. Chris gave up and stepped out of the way. Lita walked up to Chris and asked, "Is there something we're missing here?" 

"Yeah, it's a really long story." 

"Oh, come on, I'd like to hear it!" Serena said. 

"Well, I guess they won't miss us for awhile, let me take you three to lunch and I'll tell you all about it." 

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

At a nearby restaurant. Serena, Ami, and Lita were with Chris. As they sat at a table having lunch, Chris told the story, "We all met Lisa almost two years ago. When she and Jake laid eyes on each other, they both fell in love, just like that! But they never told each other. Jake never knew Lisa liked him, Lisa never knew Jake liked her! They were both embarassed to tell the other. Everytime we were either with Jake or Lisa, they'd talk about the other for hours on end! But when they were together, they couldn't find the words to say." 

Lita could only say, "Sad." 

"Yeah, I thought so too. So me and the others got together to try to get those two fixed up. We delivered love notes between the two, but they always thought that we had written it up! We made sure we got them sitting next to each other at the movies, they left even before the previews ended!" 

Serena said, "You mean they never told each other?" 

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there. Lisa applied to be a participant in the space colonies project. Three months later, she got accepted! By then she had two weeks to pack up and take off. Lisa's family had thrown a big going-away party for her. Jake was there, too. He was actually shocked by the news. So he finally walked right up to Lisa and said 'I love you!' Bad news is he said it in front of Lisa's entire family! I bet she was so embarassed! And you know what? She slapped him right in the face and ran out of her house!" 

"WHAT?" Serena shouted. 

Ami added, "But I thought--" 

"--that she liked him too? Yeah! But from time to time Lisa would tell us that her relatives were always bugging her about never having a boyfriend and all. When Jake said those three words, Lisa knew what her relatives would say, and their comments would've filled a ten-page report. Well, she ignored Jake for the next week, and then took off for space. For the next two weeks, Jake said he cried himself to sleep. His heart broke, just like that. We all felt sorry for him, so we covered for Jake when he skipped school for a week." 

"He was in love with Lisa THAT much!?" 

"That much. But after that, Jake moved on. I think Jackie and Kim blamed Lisa for the entire mess." 

"Wow. What a story," Serena commented. 

"Yeah, and then he met you and--" 

"Me? What about me?" 

"Huh!? Oh, heh, never mind...you weren't supposed to hear that..." 

"So why is Lisa here? Didn't you tell her that Jake was....dead?" 

"You see, that's the problem. Lisa thinks Jake is still alive. She said Jake comes to her in her dreams. I wouldn't believe it, but he 'told' her that he was trapped in the NegaVerse!" 

Ami said, "You think she's telling the truth?" 

"I hope so. C'mon, let's head on back there." 

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Chris and the three Scouts walked back into the war room, where it has become quiet among Lisa, Jackie, and Kim. They all decided to wait for the remaining two, Mike and Mina. 

After fifteen minutes, the couple did walk in. They were having their own conversation, obviously talking about last night. 

Mike looked around the room and asked, "Hey, what's up?" 

Chris replied, "We think Jake's still alive?" 

"You're kidding, right?" 

Lisa walked in front of Chris, "No, he's not." 

"Lisa? What're you doing here?" 

"She said Jake comes to her when she's sleeping," Chris added. 

Mike laughed a little, but returned to a straight face, "Lisa, I still remember what happened, so..." 

Lisa shouted, "Don't you guys believe me? I said, why would I lie about Jake?" 

"I would, but c'mon, when you're dreaming?" 

The door to the room opened, and Hacker One entered, saying, "Lisa's right, guys." 

Everyone else in the room said, "What?" 

"This morning we happened to track Jake's anomaly signature. I don't know how, we just bumped into it. Oh, hi Lisa." 

Lisa just put her hand up and put it back down. Mike looked surprised, "You....you two know each other?" 

Chris commented, "Mike, she was part of the FRC before she left." 

Mina added, "Mike, is there something I should know?" 

"Yeah, I'll tell you all about it later..." 

Hacker continued, "Anyways, the signature leads our scanners to an abandoned military complex in another dimension. The building is currently on a major war zone, unfortunately. I'm detecting about three, four hundred men in that base, and one of those signatures has a very high power frequency. I'll bet my next paycheck it's Queen Beryl." 

"What do you want us to do about it?" Serena asked. 

"Well, I got the order by the board to rescue our missing Jake. I'll give you all the mission profile in one hour, be ready by then." At that Hacker walked out the door. Chris followed. 

Chris ran up to Hacker down the hall and said, "Wait!" 

"Yeah, Chris?" 

"How did you know to check for Jake's signature?" 

".........I'm not authorized to tell you that." 

"Well then, who gave you the order to restrict this information?" 

"............." 

"C'mon, Hacker!" 

"It was Lisa." 

"Wha--?" 

"She called me late at night, too. She told me all about her dreams, I became suspicious. I checked this morning, and there it was. Jake's signature. OK? Now if you'll excuse me, just make sure you didn't hear it from me." And Hacker walked away in a hurry. Chris wondered why the secrecy. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Seeing Stars 

Gin Blossoms 

(lyrics edited) 

Straight up, the sad truth 

One of many secrets we acquired in youth 

My dirty clothes, lately 

I keep them in a luggage that you gave to me 

With a little luck, one night 

We'll drink together in a different light 

(chorus) 

Take me, take mine 

Hide it away 

[I saw the ring] 

Take me, take mine 

And hide it away 

[I saw the ring] 

Straight up, the right words 

Of course we always say them when we know it hurts 

The little things, you did it too 

I know I still believe it if it weren't for you 

(chorus) 

(repeat first four lines) 

(chorus) 

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

An hour passed. A team of nine stood in Dimensional Travel 8 with Hacker One. He handed them the diagram to the building, and pointed where Jake might be. "14% probability he's on the fourteenth floor, section eighteen, but that's the best I can give you." 

Mike replied, "Don't worry, we'll search the entire area." 

"Well, I hope you do. Anyways, are you four in costume yet?" 

"Oh, almost forgot," Serena said. 

"MOON STAR POWER!" 

"MERCURY STAR POWER!" 

"VENUS STAR POWER!" 

"JUPITER STAR POWER!" 

"This is getting too weird," Lisa said as she looked at the transformed Sailor Scouts. 

Hacker activated the machine and the portal turned on, "Good luck!" 

All nine jumped in and disappeared. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"D*mn you, Queen Beryl!" Jake shouted as loud as he can at Queen Beryl. The two were at the military complex, just as Hacker had said. He was in a standing position, but was too weak for his legs to support him. "You tricked me!" 

"Of course," Queen Beryl replied wickedly. "I had to make it easy for you to call for help! Now they will fall directly into my trap once and for all! Oh, by the way, thanks for the energy!" 

Jake said nothing, but moved his leg to try to sweep Queen Beryl. But that only made it hurt more. "You'll never get away with this!" 

"I already have, boy. Who's going to stop me now? The Sailor Scouts? Your precious Jumpers? I don't think so. The NegaVerse is too powerful now for anyone to stop us! And I owe it all to you, Jake!" 

Queen Beryl quickly disappeared from the room. She left just as she had come in: from thin air. 

Jake lay in that small room, hoping for a miracle. 

TO BE CONTINUED.... 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 13b: Shadows of the Past 

(sub-chapter two) 

This place was formerly known as Phoenix, Arizona. Formerly. In the first months of the U.S. Border Wars between the West and the East, Phoenix was one of the first cities to fall. Few buildings have been extremely lucky to remain standing. Currently, there is a cease-fire order and most areas of the war zone formerly called the United States have been evacuated. 

One of the buildings left standing is the once-famous forty-eight floor Lincoln Reconassiance/Intelligence Military Building Complex. For some reason, it seems awfully busy the past few days. In fact, some say the cease-fire was ordered because of the movements inside the building. Suspicious, the military on both sides of the Dividing Borderline have sent whatever few aircraft each side has left to view the activity inside the building. But anyone or anything that has come within thirty feet of the building was blown up or torn apart. Washington and Los Angeles are looking for answers, but they aren't getting any. 

The people inside the building do not care. They're setting traps, but it's not set for the West or the East. It is set for two teams unknown to the participants in the war, the Sailor Scouts and the Reality Jumpers. 

The building's main lobby. A portal opened in the ceiling of the large room, and out of it came nine kids who fell flat to the ground. 

"Ow," Sailor Moon said. 

"C'mon, guys, get up," said Chris who was still on the ground. 

At that moment, all nine heard the sound of guns loading. They looked up in the direction of the building's entrance and saw fifty men pointing weapons at them. 

"HEY, GET UP!" shouted Chris. 

In a second, the team of nine got on their feet and ran further towards the splitting hallways of the building. In that same second, every weapon went off, causing major damage to the lobby. One weapon managed to hit Lisa's shoe. Fortunately, the bullet didn't hit her foot, but was one small notch off. But it caused her to fall, forcing her to crawl out of sight from the gunfire. 

Lisa dragged herself to the opening on her left. She leaned herself onto a wall pointing away from the enemy and tried to catch her breath. She peeked out to see that the fifty gunmen were still firing non-stop. Lisa jumped up when Kim tapped her on the shoulder. Kim handed her gun and shouted, "You gonna use this or not!?" 

She took the gun, pointed, and fired. As flames came out of the gun, Lisa quickly turned away. After a few seconds, the gunfire stopped. 

"Did we get them?" they all thought. Lisa looked back and still noticed that the enemy was still there. Again, they fired off their weapons, and Lisa put her head out of sight. 

"They're supposed to be gone!" she screamed. 

Sailor Moon stood up and said, "Here, let me try." She took her tiara and shouted, 

"MOON TIARA....MAGIC!" 

The tiara flew across the lobby and took out the gunmen in an instant. The gunfire stopped for good. 

"You have to aim," Sailor Moon said proudly. 

"Oh, be quiet," Lisa replied. "You gonna get your headpiece or not?" 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

In another room, there stood Jake, taking out his anger on a doorknob. "C'mon, you stupid door!" Jake shouted as he bounced back and forth holding the doorknob in the hopes that the door would unlock. 

Suddenly, someone behind him appeared out of nowhere. This time, it wasn't Queen Beryl, but a man dressed in tight black clothing. Jake recognized him from the short battle with him last Monday. 

The man said, "You're not so tough without your mirror, are you?" 

"You going to kill me now?" Jake replied. 

"Not right away. We were just wondering how long you were going to be attacking that doorknob over there." 

"I'll get out of here, I swear!" 

"Well, we'll make sure that never happens." The man disappeared from the room, leaving an exhausted Jake still attempting to open the door. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Mike handed Lisa a spare stun gun, and said, "We'll split up, just one-man teams. Search the entire building, and don't use the elevators if there are any; take the stairs. Find Jake, we regroup back here in twenty minutes. OK, go." 

The team of nine split up in all directions down the winding hallways of the first floor. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Sailor Moon took a stariway up to the second floor. As she walked down the hall, she came across a door on each side of the hallway. "Which one should I go through?" she thought. When she opened the door to the left, the door fell off, causing it to fall through a huge hole in the floor. Sailor Moon heard a loud thud once the door hit the first floor. 

She looked down, saying, "Ack! Not that one, I guess..." Sailor Moon turned around and opened the other door. She stepped through the opening, not noticing there was a hole in the floor in that room as well. As Sailor Moon fell, she grabbed onto the floor where the opening was and hung onto it. 

"Great! What do I do now?" Sailor Moon looked down, noticing the twenty feet drop to the bottom. She screamed as loud as she could, "HELP! SOMEBODY GET ME OUT OF HERE!!" 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Mike kept on searching throughout the first floor. He peeked into empty rooms and tried not to make any noise walking down the corridors. 

"Freeze," someone said behind Mike. Mike turned around and saw another man holding a gun. He put his hands up, saying, "You're not going to use that, are you?" 

"Just come along with me and you won't get h--" 

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM...SMASH!" 

Luckily, Sailor Venus was behind the man. The beam knocked him to the ground. 

"Thanks," Mike said as he put his hands down. 

"No problem." 

Mike walked up to the fallen enemy and checked for a pulse, "Hmm, you flatlined him..." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Kim inspected the eighth floor and found a radio in one room. With a bit of curiosity, she turned it on and scanned a few channels. She was able to pick up a conversation. 

"Is this *bzzt*nel secured?" one man said. 

"Yes *crackle* is, sir," another replied. 

"Good, prepare our bomber. I want a bomb dropped on that bui*bzzt* within the hour." 

"But sir, there are people in there!" 

"Yeah, no doubt *bzzt* the eastern forces. Is that clear?" 

"*crackle*, sir! Give us twenty-five minutes!" 

Kim thought, "They must be talking about this building! Hmm..." She scanned the channels again and picked up another conversation. 

"It is no secret the western *bzzt* are up to something in that building!" 

"What do you suggest we do?" 

"What else? Activate our *crackle*ground explosive device immediately!" 

"But s-sir...*bzzt*" 

"Are you questioning me?" 

"No sir!" 

"Then set it! Twenty-five minutes!" 

"*crackle*....yes sir!" 

Kim became more terrified, "We're in BIG trouble!" 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

On the fourteenth floor, Sailor Mercury checked out the large communications room. It was filled with monitors and computers, but she didn't notice an infrared sensor still functional on both sides of the room. When she crossed the invisible light between the two sensors, a laser weapon next to one of the sensors activated silently and fired an energy beam. Sailor Mercury was able to notice it in the corner of her eye, but couldn't react fast enough. 

Fortunately, out of nowhere, Chris ran and pushed Sailor Mercury out of the way, leaving him to take the beam. The two were lifted off the ground as the beam hit his shoulder. When they landed, he said, "Ow.....I was here before you, you know...." 

Sailor Mercury replied, "Thanks." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

For the past five minutes, you could hear Sailor Moon scream throughout the second floor, "HELP!!" She was still hanging onto the second floor, trying not to look at the long drop below her. But she couldn't help it. When she looked once more, she became frightened and her hands slipped. The second she fell, someone grabbed her by the hand. Sailor Moon looked up and saw Jackie trying to lift her up. 

"How did you manage to fall into that hole? You blind or something?" 

"You don't have to comment, you know!" Sailor Moon replied. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

One man, armed with a gun, walked down the twentieth floor. He opened the door to a room and saw Jake pointing a gun directly at him. 

"Think about it," Jake said, trying to catch his breath. 

The man took his gun, but Jake was faster. He fired a shot to the head, and killing him. Now the door was open. As Jake walked out, he said, "Hey, thanks," to a second dead body in the room. 

Trying his best to walk, Jake limped down the hallway, leaning against the wall. He had the stolen gun in his hand, pointing away from him so that it was in front of him. 

Lisa was walking down an intersecting corridor, holding the stun gun in both hands. As she came to the intersection, she saw two hands holding a gun out. She almost made a noise, but she didn't. Lisa raised her stun gun up in the air, waiting to strike that person with it. 

At that moment, when Jake walked across the intersection, he felt someone had hit him on the head and then in the back. He fell to the ground very quickly, face down. 

Lisa looked down and used her foot to move the person's body to see who it was. She was very surprised to see who it was, "Oh no, Jake! I'm so sorry!" 

Jake opened his eyes and saw Lisa. "Well, hello to you too," he replied. 

"C'mon, get up! We gotta get out of here!" 

Jake took his arm and wrapped it around Lisa so that she could help him walk. They took the stairway down to the first floor. As they almost finished the flight down the stairs, Jake asked, "So, you really did hear me?" 

"Of course I did! That's why I'm here." 

"............Thought you'd forget about me, after all that..." 

"............" 

"Lisa?" 

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened." 

"No, I'm sorry. It was my fault." 

"Your fault?" 

"Yeah, I should've never opened my mouth and said...you know." 

"Really, it's my fault. Should've never slapped you when you said that. Fact is, well....um..." 

"Yeah?" 

"......Forget it. It's not important anymore." 

"Lisa?" 

"Jake?" 

"Look, I...." 

As Jake and Lisa got down the stairs to the first floor, they looked at each other. And, without thought from either one, they got closer and they kissed. When they could say something, they smiled and said, "Wow." 

After a minute, Lisa said, "C'mon, we better get going." 

"....Yeah," Jake replied. He leaned against the wall and followed Lisa to the lobby. Lisa crossed another intersection in the hallway, but Jake wasn't so fortunate. When he walked across, he was hit in the body with a good kick. He was knocked to the ground again. 

"Heh, got one," Sailor Jupiter said. 

Lisa turned around and saw the Sailor Scout leaning over Jake. "Um, Sailor Jupiter," she said. "Meet Jake Tyler." 

"Oops...um, sorry." 

Jake tried to stand up, saying, "No problem, ow..." 

Sailor Jupiter said, "Well, now that we found what we're looking for, I'd better go find the others..." She disappeared into a hallway. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Jake was able to stand on his own as he and Lisa walked into the lobby. But there was someone standing in the lobby with a sword in hand. It was the same person in black clothing Jake met up with just minutes ago. "You again," Jake said. 

"You cannot leave," the man replied. 

"Oh yeah? You can't stop us." 

"Is that a threat?" 

"Whatever." 

"Well, then...." The man pointed his sword at Jake as Lisa moved out of the way. Jake moved too as the sword moved in. 

During the next few minutes, Sailor Jupiter came back along with the rest of the crew. They stood next to Lisa, at least ten feet away from the battle. The Jumpers were watching carefully, including the Scouts, who were too surprised to say anything. 

For ten minutes Jake dodged the man and his sword until Jake leaned against the wall. The man pointed his sword and thrust it toward Jake. He moved out of the way again, causing the sword to dig into the wall. As the unknown person tried to get it out, Jake threw his fist and hit him in the face with it. He hit him three more times in the face as the man fell to the ground. Jake pulled the sword out of the wall and looked down on the person on the floor. 

"I don't need a mirror," Jake said as he pointed the sword at him. 

As the nine on the side looked, Sailor Venus said, "It can't be, that's, that's...." 

Kim asked, "You know him?" 

Sailor Moon didn't respond to Kim, but shouted, "Darien! It's us! Remember?" 

Jake and the person Sailor Moon called Darien turned their heads to see the group. 

"What?" Jake said as he looked at the man on the ground. "Y-you're....Darien?" 

Darien didn't respond as he disappeared out of thin air quickly. 

"It's him! It was!" Sailor Moon kept saying. 

Sailor Jupiter sighed and added, "Well, looks like he's brainwashed again..." 

At that moment, they heard a plane flying overhead just outside the building. 

Kim jumped up and shouted, "Uppt....that reminds me, we gotta get out of here and fast!" 

Mike took a TRT device from his pocket and opened up a portal. But it was too late. A bomb dropped from the fighter plane and exploded on the ground surrounding the building. At the same time, an explosion occured underneath the building. Everything was falling apart around the group of ten. Everyone except Lisa, Jake, and Sailor Moon jumped into the portal at the same time and disappeared. 

"C'mon, Jake!" shouted Lisa as she jumped in as well. 

Jake replied, "Yeah, I'm coming!" He looked at Sailor Moon and shouted, "Serena! C'mon!" 

Sailor Moon, still surprised, said, "Yeah....OK..." 

The two jumped in just in time before the entire building collapsed to the ground. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Monday morning, JFK International Space/Airport. International/SpaceCol Departures. Jake still had a hard time walking, and so used a wheelchair to move around. He was with Lisa, who was confirming her boarding pass with a clerk. After she received her boarding pass, Jake looked up and said, "The others are waiting at the gate." 

Jake followed Lisa to the gate. "You sure you don't want to stick around a bit longer?" 

"I can't, Jake. You know that." 

"So you're just going to leave? Like that?" 

"Please, don't do this to me." 

"Face it, Lisa. You can't make trips like this every weekend. Or every month. Or maybe even every year. You'll go on without me, I'll go on without you, right?" 

"Why are you doing this, Jake?" 

"I don't know, really. But it's true, right?" 

"....Yeah, guess you're right..." 

The two continued on to the gate where the other eight were at. Just then, someone from an intercom said, "Eastern AirWays, flight SC3-52G, gate 14, non-stop service to SpaceCol 3, last call for boarding." 

"Well, I guess that's it then," Lisa said to the others. 

"You going to come by sometime?" Mike asked. 

"I don't know......well, goodbye." She turned and headed for the gate. 

"Last chance, Lisa," Chris shouted. 

Lisa turned around once more to look at Jake, but kept on walking towards the gate and disappeared. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Insensitive" 

Jann Arden 

(lyrics edited) 

How do you cool your lips after a summer's kiss? 

How do you rid the sweat after the body bliss? 

How do you turn your eyes from a romantic glare? 

How do you block the sound of a voice you'd know anywhere? 

Oh, I really should've known by the time you drove me home 

By the vagueness in your eyes, the casual goodbyes 

By the chill of your embrace, the expression on your face that told me 

Maybe you might have some advice to give on how to be insensitive 

Insensitive 

How do you numb your skin after the warmest touch? 

How do you slow your blood after the body rush? 

How do you free your soul after you've found a friend? 

How do you teach your heart to cry? To fall in love again? 

Oh, you probably won't remember me, it's probably ancient history 

I'm one of the chosen few who went ahead and fell for you 

I'm out of vogue, I'm out of touch, I fell too fast, I feel too much 

I thought that you might have some advice to give on how to be insensitive 

(instrumental) 

Oh, I really should've known by the time you drove me home 

By the vagueness in your eyes, the casual goodbyes 

By the chill of your embrace, the expression on your face that told me 

Maybe you might have some advice to give on how to be insensitive 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

After a final look at Lisa walking away, Jake sat back in the wheelchair. He felt someone's hand on ohis shoulder. He saw it was Serena as she said, "C'mon, let's get out of here." 

"Sure." 

The group of nine walked down the hallway to the exit. Kim said, "So, Jake, how does it feel to be back?" 

"Oh, I don't know..." 

"What do you mean you don't know?" Jackie asked. "We all thought you were dead!" 

Jake laughed a little, saying, "Oh come on. From the looks of it, Mike, Mina, it looked like life went on without me, right?" 

"What're you talking about?" the two said at the same time. 

"Heh. Never mind..." 

TO BE CONTINUED.... 


	14. Home Court Advantage

Episode 14: Home Court Advantage

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 14: Home Court Advantage 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Transcript from channel 8 news, 4/23, 11 o'clock edition 

THIS TRANSCRIPT MAY NOT BE COPIED OR RETRANSMITTED IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM 

Visual: Outside of New York University Medical Center, entrance to Rusk Institute; other reporters, various vehicles, and civilians at scene; Susan Carleton in front of camera holding microphone. 

Carleton: Thanks, Jim. As you know, 14-year old Jake Tyler, presumed dead last Monday, was found at an abandoned building just scheduled for demolition today. He was found by construction crews clearing the building minutes before the blast that would take out the building occured. He was taken here to NYU, but was never in critical condition, doctors say. Tyler is in perfect health and is scheduled for release right now. The mysteries are why he was presumed dead, and why he was in the building in the first place. Wait--- 

Visual: Tyler walks out of building and is escorted by a tall man wearing glasses and a girl with blonde hair. 

Carleton: Here he is right now. Tyler, you were missing for over a week. Some say you were dead. What were you doing in the city all this time? 

Tyler (blank face): Um, no comment. 

Carleton: You are aware of the mystery behind your whereabouts in that building this morning? 

Tyler: (no answer) 

Girl: Hey, you leave him alone! 

Tall man: Yeah, if you'll excuse us, we have to get Jake out of here... 

Carleton: Who are you? 

Tyler, girl, and man: No comment! 

Visual: All three walk out into the street and hail a cab; reporters chasing after them. 

Carleton: Well, I guess we won't know tonight....I'm Susan Carleton, News 8, Manhattan. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Hey, that was close!" Hacker One said as he got into the taxi. 

"Who's plan was this, anyways?" Jake added as he also sat in the car. 

Serena entered next, saying, "I always thought being on TV was cool....didn't know they were this annoying!" 

Hacker looked at the driver and said, "Staten Island, Tysens and Hylan." 

At that the car drove away from the hospital. On the way to the onramp leading to the highway, the cab almost ran over a stray newscrew. 

"That's gonna cost ya another fifteen bucks, pal," the driver said. 

The cab went across the highway and into the Battery Tunnel. Inside, Serena gave a look of depression as she looked out the window. 

Jake looked at Serena and asked, "You OK?" 

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine...." But she didn't lookthat way. Jake was concerned. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

At the intersection of Hylan Boulevard and Tysens Avenue, Hacker said goodbye to Jake and Serena and went in one direction. The two went in the direction of home. 

Jake still saw the sadness in Serena's eyes and asked again, "No, really, what's up?" 

"Nothing! I'm alright..." 

"Well, you don't look it...." 

"It's nothing....I'll be fine..." 

"Ah! So there is something wrong!" 

But Serena said nothing. Jake got the picture. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Luna greeted the two back at the house. but wasn't able to get any response from Serena. When she left the room, the cat asked, "What happened?" 

"Don't look at me!" Jake replied. 

Jake and Serena quickly got ready for bed. As usual, Jake slept on the floor and Serena on the bed. 

A half hour passed, and Jake was still awake. It was obvious Serena was having a dream, because she was talking in her sleep. He could barely understand what she was saying, and was only able to get certain phrases and words such as "Darien," "I've missed you so much," and "I love you." 

It wasn't the noise that kept Jake from sleeping, it was the thought of Darien presenting a bit of competition. But Jake wondered if he himself was the one that was interfering with a perfectly good relationship between the two. 

It seemed useless to get any sleep, so Jake got out of his sleeping bag and headed downstairs to the kitchen. He grabbed a soda to drink as he sat down. After a minute, he heard a voice behind him saying, "You couldn't sleep either?" 

Jake turned around and saw Luna. He replied, "Ah, so I'm assuming this isn't the first time?" 

Luna walked into the kitchen and onto the table. "She's always like this when she thinks of Darien." 

"Oh, really?" 

"Yeah, especially the time when..." 

"No, I don't want to hear it." 

Luna stared at Jake, just as Artemis stared at Mike a few nights back. 

"What?" Jake asked. 

"You're jealous, aren't you?" 

"Me? Why would-----OK, so what?" 

"It doesn't like you're going to do a thing about it." 

Jake put his soda can on the table and stood up, "You're right, I'm not. If she's not available, she's not available." 

"So that's it?" 

"That's it. Might as well get this mission over with it and move on." Jake left the kitchen, but by that time he had carried the same face Serena carried on the way home. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

On Wednesday afternoon, Jake entered Hacker's lab and handed him papers. 

"What are these?" Hacker asked. 

"Dimensional-tracking request forms," Jake replied. "We're still waiting for you guys to find where the Scouts come from." 

"Jake, you already filled out this form. Last week." 

"Yeah, and I'm still waiting. I want it on priority one now!" 

"It IS on priority one, and we're doing our best." 

Jake sighed and left the room. On his way out he said, "OK if I'm honest?" 

"Yeah?" 

"The best isn't enough anymore..." 

When Jake exited, Hacker thought, "Heh. What's his problem?" 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

NewsNetLink 

Subj: SIA Tops Tech; Moves on to Nationals 

By Johnathan Crawford 

The Battle of the Brains Eastern Finals wraps up as Staten Island Academy wins the match against Brooklyn Technical High School. Doesn't matter anyways--New York has a spot in the National Finals! 

Academy's team captain Chris Davis led teammates Danny Edwards, Jennifer Cole, Johnathan Handel, and Terry Wilkins against Tech's captain Tod Smith, who led Joan Porter, Christine Dell, Scott Nomar, and Robert Johnson. Players from both teams consisted of 8th and 9th graders and had some of the top intelligence averages in the nation. 

By the end of the three rounds of regulation, the score was tied at 245. The game was settled by a tie-breaker question in which only the captains could answer. In the final question, Smith buzzed in first, but was unable to get an answer out, causing SIA to win by default. 

Academy will advance to the Battle of the Brains Finals against Los Angeles High School. A location has not been determined at this time. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

That afternoon, Ami went to a fast-food place to sit down and study for tests. As she studied, Mike walked in while playing around with a puzzle cube in his hands. He noticed Ami and sat down next to her. 

"Hi," he said. 

Ami replied, "Hello. What's that?" 

"Oh, this? This is a Rubik's cube. VERY difficult." 

"What do you have to do?" 

"Well, you're supposed to match up all the colors so that there's only one color on each side." 

"Oh. May I try?" 

"You can try, but no one I know finished it!" 

At that time, Chris walked into the place with four others behind him. He didn't notice Mike or Ami at one table. He slammed his books on another table and sat down. The other four followed. "Let me get this straight, John," he said. "You had a vacation planned with your parents almost a month ago, and you also planned to be in the competiton!?" 

The one Chris called John replied, "Sorry, OK!? Didn't think we could make it to the Finals!" 

The only girl in the group said, "Wait a minute....you're one of our top students, and you didn't even think of making it to the Finals?!?" 

Chris sat back in his chair and added, "OK, we have to think here. Thanks to John here, we need a replacement." 

Another boy asked, "Well, who's going to compete on such short notice?" 

Suddenly, Mike stood up from his chair and shouted, "No way!" He was pointing at the cube Ami was holding. It had one color on each side, meaning it was solved. 

Ami said, "Well, I don't know what was so difficult about it..." 

Everyone looked at Mike and Ami and at the completed cube, and slowly they started clapping. Everyone but Chris' group. 

"Thanks, I think," Ami said as she blushed. 

Mike took the cube and replied, "I gotta show this to everyone else..." At that he stormed out of the fast-food place. 

Chris and everyone else at his table were amazed. The girl said, "Doesn't she also go to Academy?" 

John added, "Chris, here's your replacement." 

"Well," Chris replied. "I guess I could go over and ask..." 

The girl stood up and said, "This is your job, not mine....see ya." 

She left the restaurant, and the other three followed behind her, leaving Chris. He sighed and went over to the table where Ami sat. "Hi," he said. 

"Oh," Ami replied. "Didn't know you were here." 

"I was over there....listen, I have to ask you a BIG favor.........." 

".......Well?" 

"What?" 

"You were going to ask me a favor..." 

"OH! Yeah, um, there's this academic competition for school, someone dropped out, and, well..." 

"You want me to fill in?" 

"Yeah." 

"Of course!" 

"Really?" 

"Yeah," Ami said as she stood up. "You don't have to be so nervous to ask me..." At that she smiled and left. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

And so, the next day, Chris, Ami, and their other three teammates gathered around the school's videocom to await a call. Finally, it rang, and a face of a woman appeared on the screen. "Hello, Staten Island Academy team," she said. "Hmm, I see you have a new one on your team..." 

"Yes," Ami said as she stood up. "My name's Ami Mizuno." 

"Hello Ami. Well, now, about the Finals. We decided that the participants should decide where this final round will take place. Since the Academy team has a higher score than the Los Angeles team, they will pick the location of this event." 

Everyone in the room looked to Chris, as he said, "Well, how about...." 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Madison Square Garden?" Mike asked back at the war room. 

"Yeah," Chris replied. "You know, Knicks? Rangers?" 

"I know that! But why there?" 

"Just thought it'd be fun. Want seats?" 

Mina looked and said, "Sure!" as did the other Scouts. 

Jake and the other Jumpers didn't seem interested. "No, not for me," Jake said. "After all, this is YOUR school we're talking about." 

Chris held up a pack of tickets and said, "They're courtside..." 

The Jumpers jumped at the offer, with Mike saying, "YES!!" 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Saturday night, Madison Square Garden. Four Jumpers and three Scouts sat next to each other on the sidelines of the Knicks court. The rest of the court was filled with a capacity crowd, consisting of people from both the hometown and Los Angeles. At half court, there were tables equipped with buzzers and name tags for both teams and a podium for the host. The scoreboard high above the court was set up so that there was a score kept for both teams. Higher up, a net extended throughout the entire area of the court protecting framework at the absolute top. 

"Hey, is this going to start yet?" Serena said impatiently. 

Jake looked at his watch. "Yeah! It's almost seven!" 

Finally, a voice from a loudspeaker said, "Ladies and gentlemen....welcome to the Final Round of the Battle of the Brains!" At that moment, everyone cheered. 

"The teams are from the schools of Los Angeles High School....and Staten Island Academy!" 

The crowd cheered again. 

"The visiting team consists of team captain, Bryan DeWitt..." 

A brown-haired kid came running of an opening and stood on the sidelines. 

"...Joshua Kendrick...." 

Another kid, this time with black hair, ran out and stood next to Bryan. 

"...Natalie Caxton...." 

A blonde girl walked out and stood on the sideline as well. 

"...Melissa Catlin...." 

A rather short girl also appeared out of the opening and stood next to the three. 

"...and Matthew Hill!" 

The last boy ran out and stood next to the rest of his teammates. The five received applause from certain spots in the audience, obviously from spots held by Los Angeles fans. 

"And now, the Staten Island Academy team, consisting of team captain Chris Davis..." 

On the opposite side of the court, Chris ran out of another opening and also stopped at the sideline. 

"...Daniel Edwards...." 

Daniel appeared and stood next to Chris. 

"...Jennifer Cole...." 

The girl called Jennifer went out, waved, and stood along the sideline. 

"...Terry Wilkins...." 

Terry ran out of the opening and stood on the sideline as well. 

"...and finally, filling in for Johnathan Handel, Ami Mizuno!" 

Ami peeked out of the opening and walked out, standing next to the rest of the team. The Academy team received as much applause as their opponents, this time from other spots in the crowd, especially from the Jumpers and the Scouts. 

Ami said, "This is pretty large crowd...." 

Nervous from receiving the applause, Jennifer asked, "Chris, tell me again why you picked the Garden?" 

Chris replied, "Heh heh....shut up...." 

The two teams walked onto the court and shook hands with each other. Then they took their positions at their appropriate places along the two tables. From another opening at the side of the court, a man with a business suit on walked up to the podium and talked into the microphone, "Well, now that the teams have been introduced, let me explain the rules...." 

"For this final round, there will be four periods, each consisting of twenty minutes, each team having two time-outs of three minutes each. During the four-periods, I will ask a series of questions. The person who buzzes in first wll answer. A correct answer will add 5 points to his or her team's score. An incorrect answer will subtract 5 points from his or her team's score. The point value will increase by 5 points by every period, until it reaches 20 points in the fourth period." 

"We have changed the method in the event of a tie-breaker. In case that happens, a 30-second 'split second' round will take place. One player from each team will come up here and answer a series of questions. The player answering the most questions when the timer hits double-zero will win the victory for his or her team!" 

"This is so exciting!" Serena said. "I wonder if we'll be on TV again!" 

"OK," the host said. "If everyone will test their buzzers..." 

One by one, both teams pressed the buttons, turning on the lights in front of them. 

"Good! We will begin! Set the clock for twenty minutes..." 

High above the playing area, the scoreboard lighted up and the timer displayed "20:00" and started counting down. 

The host held up a series of cards and read, "OK, first question....what is the only state in the United States that was once a nation of Mexico?" 

Chris quickly pressed his buzzer. 

"Yes, Davis, Academy team." 

"Texas." 

"That's correct, for 5 points." 

On the scoreboard, the zero below the word "Academy" changed to five. 

"Next question. What was the year when the eastern islands were destroyed and what war was this?" 

*bzzt* 

"Caxton, Los Angeles team." 

"1983, and the Great AntiMatter War." 

"Correct. Score is now tied. Next question...." 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The game continued on. Throughout the first two periods, both teams answered many questions, especially Ami who earned her team 85 points. At the half, the score was 200 to 185, Academy's game. 

The two teams left their seats and headed through a door leading to the locker rooms. 

"You were great!" Chris said to Ami. 

"Thanks," Ami replied. 

Jennifer added, "Yeah, well...fifteen points isn't exactly a big lead. We might lose it in the second half!" 

Chris said, "Don't worry. Right now we got some time to think it over." 

Halftime lasted an entire thirty minutes. People were either in their seats or outside to get some snacks. Serena fell into the second group. She waited in line behind twenty other people. 

Suddenly, she was bumped by someone that walked by. She looked at the person and said, "Hey, watch it!" But she quickly covered her mouth. Although the man that bumped Serena continued to walk away, she had the feeling he seemed very familiar. Out of curiosity, she stepped out of line and followed the man. After ten minutes of walking through the crowded perimeter of the arena, she stopped when she saw the unknown person walk into a room with a door marked "PERSONNEL ONLY." Not aware of what might happen to her if she was caught, Serena followed. 

She closed the door behind her, leaving little light in the room. She had noticed the man walking up the stairs ahead of her, but other than that, there was no one else in the room. Yet she was still afraid to walk up the stairs, so she took her locket and shouted, 

"MOON STAR POWER!" 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Hey, where's Serena?" Mike asked as soon as the third period started. The two teams have taken their seats on the court once again. 

"First question....when was Winston Churchill assassinated?" 

*bzzt* 

"Kendrick, Los Angeles team." 

"1942." 

"That's correct. It is tied once again. Next question, spell questionability." 

*bzzt* 

"Mizuno, Academy team." 

"Q-U-E-S-T-I-O-N......A-B-I-L....I-T-Y." 

"That's correct, next question..." 

Near the end of the third period, Lita asked, "Yeah, where is Serena? She hasn't come back since halftime!" 

Jake sighed and said, "Well, I'll go find her..." He left his seat and headed towards the arena's perimeter. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"How much more do I have to walk?" a tired Sailor Moon asked. She was now high up, having already walked eighteen flights of steps towards the top. Finally, she could see an opening up ahead. From the opening, Sailor Moon could hear the crowd below shouting and cheering for the participants further down. She entered through the open doorway and noticed that the only ground in front of her was a large platform and a metal beam ahead leading to the rest of the framework at the top of the arena. She was scared to see that she was so high up, and the net below the framework didn't help to stop her fear of heights. 

After a minute, Sailor Moon was able to pull herself together. She remembered that she was up here to find a person she thought was familiar, though she wondered why she walked all the way up to such a high area. Fortunately, she looked ahead and saw the person she was looking for. This time, she fully recognized who it was. It was Darien! 

He was standing on another metal beam, holding a knife up to one of the many pieces of rope holding up the scoreboard down below. He noticed Sailor Moon and jumped. But he quickly took his knife and threw it at her. 

Sailor Moon almost froze, but dodged the knife just in time. "Darien!" she shouted. "It's me, remember?" 

He didn't say a word, but grabbed another dagger and continued his job of cutting the ropes. Sailor Moon remembered that Ami and the others were right below the scoreboard, and she knew she had to stop him. She tiptoed across the framework to get closer to Darien. She shouted again, "Don't you know what you're doing?" 

Darien gave a smirk and replied, "Oh, you mean getting rid of Sailor Mercury and her friend, Chris? Yes, I do." He tossed another dagger, but this time he threw it towards on of the ropes supporting the metal beam that Sailor Moon was standing on. The beam partly gave way, but it moved just enough to force Sailor Moon to lose her balance. As she slid down the beam, she jumped and landed on another part of the framework. But she did not regain her balance there; her foot slipped as it landed, causing her to fall again. Luckily, she stayed on the framework. 

"Now," Darien said. "Don't get in the way." It seemed that he had an unlimited number of daggers, because he took another one from his pocket and continued cutting the ropes supporting the scoreboard. 

Down below, it was down to the last two minutes in the fourth and final period. The score was now 615 to 595, Los Angeles' game. 

After a minute, Sailor Moon eventually got back up. She did not want Ami and her friends hurt, but she did not want to hurt Darien as well, who was a good fifteen feet in front of Sailor Moon. She reasoned again, "We can help you, Darien! Why won't you listen to me?" 

Darien quickly became impatient, "I am getting tired of this...." He grabbed a gun from his pocket and fired. A laser beam shot out of the gun and headed for Sailor Moon. Just then, 

"MIRROR.....REFLECT!" 

Neither Sailor Moon nor Darien noticed Jake was there, he was just....there. He had his mirror shield in one hand and a tracking device in another. The beam hit the shield that Jake held in front of Sailor Moon and bounced back towards Darien. He took full impact of the beam, forcing him to fall off the metal beam. Fortunately he landed on the net, but as soon as he landed, he became surrounded by some sort of darkness and disappeared. 

"Of all the places in the Garden," Jake said. "You had to end up here?" 

But Sailor Moon didn't say a word. She was only thinking of how she could get Darien back. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Twenty-eight," Terry said. 

"That's correct!" the host replied. Just then, the horn sounded and the clock had reached double-zero. The score was 735-all. "Well, we have a tie!" 

The audience became extra loud at that moment. 

"OK, now. This is the tie-breaker round. Teams, choose one player to play this final round." 

At that moment, the Los Angeles team got together and sent Melissa Catlin up to the podium. At the other table, Chris said with a little confidence, "Ami, want to play this one?" 

"Well, OK," Ami replied as she walked up to the podium. She and Melissa shook hands one more time and went to opposite sides of the podium. Two extra buzzers appeared on the podium for the two contestants. The scoreboard lighted up one more time and displayed 0:30. It started counting down as soon as the host asked the first question. 

"In science, what does SLOT stand for?" 

*bzzt* 

"Yes, Ami?" 

"Second Law of Thermodynamics." 

"Correct." 

0:26....1-0.... 

"These two continents make up the largest land mass in the world, what is it?" 

*bzzt* 

"Ami?" 

"Europe and Asia." 

"Correct." 

0:21....2-0.... 

"One billion bytes make up a gigabyte. What does one trillion make?" 

*bzzt* 

"Yes, Melissa?" 

"A terabyte." 

"That's correct." 

0:17....2-1.... 

"One angle is 48 degrees. What must the other angle be in order to make it complementary?" 

*bzzt* 

"Melissa again?" 

"42 degrees." 

"Correct again." 

0:12....2-2.... 

"IRC stands for..." 

*bzzt* 

"Melissa?" 

"Internet Relay Chat." 

"Correct." 

0:10....2-3.... 

"Songs on a compact disc are..." 

*bzzt* 

"Melissa once more..." 

"Tracks." 

"Correct!" 

0:06....2-4.... 

"In the simple interest formula, what does the T stand for?" 

*bzzt* 

"Ami?" 

"Time." 

"Correct." 

0:03....3-4.... 

"Light travels how fast?" 

*bzzt* 

"Yes, Ami?" 

At that moment, time ran out. The host said, "The score's four to three, Los Angeles High School wins the game!" 

The crowd cheered and some people even ran out to the court to congratulate the Los Angeles team. 

Ami put her hand out once more towards Melissa and said, "Good game." 

Melissa smiled and replied, "Yeah. Good game." At that they both walked in opposite directions. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Chris and Ami went with the rest of the Jumpers to find Jake and Serena. When they found the two at the arena's perimeter, they all took the Mag-Lev home. 

It was now late at night, the two tired participants ended up back at Chris' house. Ami sat on the steps at the front of the house, looking up at the stars. Chris went outside as well. He looked at Ami and asked, "You OK?" 

She looked at Chris with a puzzled look and replied, "I'm sorry." 

"For what? Oh....hey, it wasn't your fault." 

"You lost by one question, all because of me, right?" 

Chris sat on the steps right next to Ami and continued, "It was only a game, you know. Not like some big test or anything like that..." 

"Yeah, but what if it was a test? You know what I could've got? An A minus!" 

"Uh....yeah....look, nobody's perfect, you know. You can't get every question right. Just learn from a mistake and move on." 

"What if I don't learn from this?" 

"What? You? Hey, I've heard a LOT about you from your friends, c'mon!" 

"Yeah, I guess you're right." 

"Of course I'm right." 

They both giggled a little and looked up at the sky that was full of stars. After a minute of silence, Chris added, "But you know, I did like something out of all this...." 

Ami looked at Chris oddly and replied, "What?" 

He smiled and said, "Being at the center of the Knicks court in front of, like, ten thousand people! Now that was cool..." 

"Oh..." At that Ami looked down. 

Chris asked, "What?" 

"Nothing...." 

He yawned and stood up, "Well, I'm going to bed. Good night." He then walked inside the house. 

Ami smiled and thought, "He's right. Even I didn't get that one correct!" 

TO BE CONTINUED.... 


	15. All Too Familiar

Episode 15: All Too Familiar

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 15: All Too Familiar 

Sunday, 8 o' clock in the morning. Jake was the first one from the Jumpers to get in. He was getting the room prepared for the usual day's work. Serena entered the room after a few minutes. 

"Hi..." 

"Hi..." 

"Um," Serena said. "They opened up a new ice cream parlor down the street. I was wondering.....you wanna come later?" 

Jake was surprised. "Is she asking ME out on a date?" he thought. "But what about---what about...." He then said out loud, "Sure!" 

----------------------------------------------------------------- 

Jake thought about that all morning. He was obviously confused. "No, can't be. She just wanted ice cream! But why did she ask me? C'mon Jake, there's no meaning here....I think." 

Serena was on the other side of the room, wondering why she asked in the first place. "I just wanted to be nice to him....I wasn't paying any attention to Jake all week cause I was thinking of Darien---wait a minute....oh, I'm so confused..." 

"But what if Serena is making the first move? What now? Am I supposed to say no? Even if she's got someone else, I can't refuse!" 

"Did I give him the wrong idea? Unless.....if I don't have the wrong idea about him...." 

----------------------------------------------------------------- 

Later that day, Mike and Mina were having lunch on the roof of the FRC building. No reason, they just wanted a view. At least that's what they told the Jumpers. 

"You know," Mina said after taking a bite out of her hot dog. "They say if you drop a dime off this building, it causes a crack in the sidewalk below." 

Mike replied, "Gee. Wonder what'll happen if we drop a quarter..." 

At that they both laughed a little and continued eating. Just then, they heard a loud explosion. Actually, it was only a portal opening right behind of them, but the sound had surprised the two so much they fell back. Mike got up and asked, "You OK?" 

"Yeah, I think. What's going on?" 

They were about to find out. A girl jumped out of the portal and headed for the door leading to the floors below. Two men in FRC uniforms followed, shouting, "Get back here! We just want to talk!" 

The girl screamed back as she opened the door, "Yeah! I'm sure!" 

All three disappeared as the girl was chased into the building. 

Mina didn't see the three as she was looking in the opposite direction, but she did hear them. "It can't be..." she said. 

"What?" Mike replied. "You know that girl?" 

"Yeah! That's....that's......that's Rei!" 

----------------------------------------------------------------- 

And sure enough, it was Rei being chased by the two FRC officers. She scrambled down the stairs and headed down all the way to the 75th floor. She raced down the hallways, looking for an elevator. Luckily there was an open elevator car. Rei entered it and pressed the button for the ground floor. 

"They must be history by now," she thought. 

The trip down was long as usual. Finally the elevator opened revealing the bottom floor, but it also revealed that she was held at gun point by twenty other officers, with Hacker One holding the biggest weapon. 

Hacker said calmly, "Could you PLEASE come with us?" 

"Never!" Rei replied. She quickly closed the elevator door and headed down towards the basement levels. She remembered about the portal on the roof, "Maybe there's another gateway out of here!" 

Rei, once again, was running down the hallways, but was stopped by four Jumpers and three Scouts standing in her way. 

"You heard Hacker," Jake said as he revealed his communicator. 

Sailor Moon stepped forward and added, "Rei, what are you doing?" 

"Who are you all?" Rei asked. 

"What are you talking about, Rei?" Sailor Jupiter said. "It's us! Remember?" 

"I don't know who you are, but..." she went into a fighting position, but was stopped as Hacker sneaked up behind her and put a hand tranquilizer towards her neck. Rei quickly fainted and fell to the ground. 

"I have to ask," Hacker said. "What was that all about?" 

----------------------------------------------------------------- 

Rei was taken to the medical facility immediately. Everyone watched through a one-way mirror as she was examined in her unconscious state. To be safe, she was put on a bed with restraints on each end. 

After a half hour, the doctor walked up to the team and gave his diagnosis. 

"Well, with the exception of the electro-shock, not to mention a few cuts and bruises throughout her body, she's in perfect health. Our main concern is that she has level 3 memory loss." 

Ami asked, "Level 3?" 

"Severe loss of memory, but can be recoverable. In time, of course. Almost 65% of her brain has been affected by level 3. She remembers some, but not alot. She was awake before I finished, you can see her now....just be careful; she's a tough one!" 

And so they entered into the room where Rei was in. When all nine entered, Rei shouted, "Who ARE you? Get me out of here!" 

"Calm down," Jake replied. "You got amnesia, and..." 

"That's a lie!" 

"Really? Prove it." 

"Well.....there's.....um.....OK, you're right." 

Lita spoke up, "So, you don't remember anything?" 

"That's none of your business.............well, barely anything." 

Jake continued, "Well, what was the first thing you remembered?" 

"You going to interrogate me now?" Rei replied. 

"Excuse me!? The way I see it, you ain't getting out of here anytime soon, so I think you'd better listen!" 

"Since when do I have to listen to you? Or any of you?" 

Jake seemed to give up. "That's it, I'm out of here." He stepped out of the room and viewed it from the mirror. 

"That wasn't nice, you know," Kim said. 

Rei turned her head, "Yeah, well...." 

Kim decided to take over the questioning. "Hey, you going to tell us what happened?" 

She sighed and then told her story. 

"A week ago--that's what people told me--I was found in the middle of a street. Some people took me to some kind of hideout they had. When I woke up, I didn't remember much of anything. All I could remember then was my name. I learned that I was in Tokyo, or what was left of it. Well, the people there told me I could stay at their place for awhile. I didn't have any choice; everything else was in ruin! I mean, everything!" 

Kim tried to keep conversation going. "Today. What happened?" 

"Today, huh? We were all looking around for other survivors. We kinda saw two people at a distance. They were wearing uniforms and had guns in their hands. I thought they might be trouble, so I told the others to run off so I can take care of those two men. They saw me, and chased after me. As I tried to lose them, I looked behind me and I saw one of them holding up some kind of remote. I looked forward, and there was this big...something....right in front of me! I thought I bumped into it, but it was like a hole that you could run through, and so I continued running through this building. Now here I am." 

"But that's all you remember?" 

"Yeah, I guess that's it....." 

Jake continued viewing through the one-way mirror. "How does she do that?" he thought, referring to Kim. Just then, the two men that were chasing Rei just an hour ago walked down the hallway and up to the door where the rest of the team was. Jake stopped them at the door, "What are you doing?" 

"Sorry, Tyler," said one of the men looking at Jake's ID card. "We have to take the girl for questioning." 

"We've already accomplished that. And the mission profile has been given to us." 

"Not under our orders." 

"Excuse me?" 

"The girl resisted arrest. It is imperative that a report be filed." 

"Then file the report! Rei is under our custody now, you can't do anything about that." 

"Yes, we can. We're taking her in, and that's final." 

Jake stood in front of the door. "I ain't moving." 

The two men's eyes changed color as they replied, "Yes, you are!" They picked Jake up and threw him towards the door and into the room. He was thrown with so much force that he flew over Rei and almost into the window on the opposite side of the room. Serena almost rushed to Jake's side, but the officers ordered her to stay where she was. 

One of them unlocked the restraints on the bed as he said, "You are ordered to come with us." 

"Yeah, right!" Rei replied as she got up from the bed. 

Chris asked, "Is it OK if I ask what's going on?" 

"This is none of your concern, Jumper." 

Chris was very suspicious. "How does he know that we're Jumpers?" Chris reached for his water cannon and fired at the two officers. They fell back and were knocked out. 

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Mike said. 

He was right. After a moment, mist filled the room and Queen Beryl appeared. "This is truly wonderful!" she said. "I get to eliminate all of my enemies in one shot!" 

The Jumpers reached for their guns and the Scouts, except for Rei, were ready to transform. But as soon as Queen Beryl waved her hand, all nine suddenly became paralyzed as they dropped to the floor. 

Rei stood up and said, "Hey, you leave them alone!" 

Beryl turned around and pointed towards Rei. A strong energy beam fired from her fingertips and almost rendered Rei unconscious once again. "I'll finish you off last," Queen Beryl said. 

Then something happened. The energy beam gave Rei a slight headache, causing her to have strange flashes racing through her mind. Rei got up off the floor and saw Queen Beryl leaning over Serena. She knew what she had to do. 

"MARS STAR POWER!" 

Queen Beryl turned around once more and saw Sailor Mars. "What is this?" she shouted. 

Sailor Mars replied, "I said, leave them alone!" 

"MARS FIRE.....IGNITE!" 

She was too weak to create a full attack, but the blast of fire was just enough for Queen Beryl to break her concentration on the rest of the team. The other nine were able to move again. "All right!" Serena shouted. With Queen Beryl caught off guard, they were all ready to fight back. 

"MOON STAR POWER!" 

"MERCURY STAR POWER!" 

"JUPITER STAR POWER!" 

"VENUS STAR POWER!" 

The Sailor Scouts was now a full team once again. They all intended to take advantage of the situation. 

"MOON TIARA....MAGIC!" 

"MERCURY ICE BUBBLES....FREEZE!" 

"JUPITER THUNDER....CRASH!" 

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM....SMASH!" 

Unfortunately, Queen Beryl was able to create a force field around her. But she too was not strong enough to block off the full force of the other four Scouts. Badly hurt, she said, "Foiled again...." She had enough energy left to disappear from the room. 

Jake got up and said, "Sailor Mars, eh? Neat..." 

"I remember!" Sailor Mars replied. 

Sailor Jupiter smiled, "Welcome back, Rei!" 

"Yeah......but could someone tell me what we are all doing here?" 

----------------------------------------------------------------- 

It was now 8 o'clock. Rei went home with Kim, and everyone else went back to their own houses. Except for Jake and Serena. They were just on their way out of the building. Serena realized something, "Oh, I forgot about the ice cream parlor!" 

Jake replied, "Heh, I forgot about that too!" 

"I'm sorry." 

"That's OK." 

"Are you still interested?" 

"Well actually, not anymore..." 

Serena sighed and added, "All right..." 

Jake couldn't help but notice Serena's smile fade a little. "You know," he said. "The place is open until ten..." 

She started to smile again, "C'mon, let's go!" 

They happened to hold hands as they walked into the shop. 

TO BE CONTINUED..... 


	16. Six-Eighteen, Again

Episode 16: Six-Eighteen, Again

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 16: Six-Eighteen, Again 

It was Monday afternoon in the Jumpers' war room back at the FRC. Today was unusually quiet. Everyone stared at Jake and Serena every time the two tried to make eye contact. The two knew that the others knew about the visit to the ice cream parlor down the block. Whenever Jake or Serena did say something, they said something like, "Nothing happened, alright!?" And nothing did either, but the two wished something did. They just couldn't help liking each other, and they couldn't help hiding it. 

Finally, Jake became tired of being stared at. He sighed and walked out of the room without saying a word. 

Mike followed Jake out of the building. As they walked for about five minutes, Jake said, "You can stop staring at me back there, you know." 

"Don't you mean, 'us?'" Mike replied. 

"What are you talking about?" 

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." 

The two stopped at a bus stop marker and sat down on the bench next to it. Jake looked down on the ground and continued, "You know....sometimes at night I can't sleep, probably 'cause I'm thinking about Serena. I look over her while she's sleeping in my bed. I say to myself that I have this beautiful girl in my room, but I can't do anything about it! What's the word, 'unfortunate?'" 

"I think that's it...wait a minute! Mina stays with me, and I did something about it!" 

"Yeah, well, she didn't have anyone before, Serena does." 

"Heh..." Mike stood up and added, "'Can't do anything 'bout that, can we?" 

Jake stood up as well, "Guess not...c'mon, let's go." 

As they walked back to the building, Jake thought, "I just can't help it, being around Serena half the time..." 

--------------------------------------------------------------- 

"When I See You Smile" 

Bad English 

Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever make it through 

Through this world that I have in you 

I just wouldn't have a clue 

Sometimes it seems this world is closing in on me 

There's no way to break free 

And then I see you reach for me 

Sometimes I wanna give up 

I wanna give in 

I wanna quit the fight 

And then I see you, baby 

And everything's all right 

Everything's all right 

(chorus) 

When I see you smile 

I can face the world [oh, oh] 

Now I can do anything 

When I see you smile 

I see a ray of light [oh, oh] 

I see a shining light through the rain 

When I see you smile, baby 

Baby, when I see you smile at me 

Baby, there's nothing that this world could ever do 

That a touch of your hand can do 

It's like nothing that I ever knew 

And when the rain is falling 

I can feel it, but you're here with me now 

One look at you, baby, is all I'll ever need 

It's all I'll ever need 

(repeat chorus) 

--------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Oh, Serena..." Jake thought almost unconsciously. 

Suddenly, he felt someone push him from behind. It was Mike. They were thrown towards the sidewalk as a car behind them drove by. 

"Hey, watch it!" Mike shouted towards the car. He looked at Jake and added, "Weren't you watching!? Almost got killed!" 

"Umm....sorry 'bout that..." 

"S'ok. C'mon, let's go!" 

--------------------------------------------------------------- 

Jake and Mike walked down the hallway leading to the war room. They could see mist forming around the front door. "What's going on?" Mike asked. 

Quickly, they opened the door, only to find that they couldn't see a thing. The two waited for the mist in the room to disappear. After half a minute, when the visibility improved, then rushed into the room. On the floor were Chris, Rei, and Ami, all three of them unconscious. 

Jake hit the button marked "EMERGENCY" on the wall, said, "I'll go get a MedTeam," and ran out as an alarm sounded. 

--------------------------------------------------------------- 

The medical facility, one hour later. The doctor there gave his diagnosis about Ami, Chris, and Rei to Jake and Mike. "They're all right," he said. "But I don't expect them to be awake anytime soon. They're all pretty knocked out, but fortunately nothing serious." 

"Thanks," Jake replied as he and Mike left the room. As the two walked down the hall, Jake added, "I'll bet you it's the NegaVerse...again." 

Mike said, "Yeah, they took Mina, too. What are we gonna do?" 

"Simple," Jake held up Chris' water cannon. "Found this on the floor back at the room. We're going in!" 

--------------------------------------------------------------- 

Serena, Mina, Lita, Kim, and Jackie were trapped in the NegaVerse. Rope from the rocky walls tied their hands behind their backs. 

"Oh, we're never getting out of here!" Serena cried. 

Kim said, "Well, I guess Queen Beryl wants us to 'fend for ourselves.' Where did she go anyways?" 

"I don't know," Mina replied. "That's her first mistake." 

"What do you mean?" 

Mina didn't respond to that question right away; she was looking at a small piece of broken glass that lay on the ground next to her shoe. She didn't know where it came from; she only knew it could help her. Using her shoe, Mina stepped on the piece of glass, causing it to pop up into the air over her head as it landed in her hands. 

"What are you doing?" Jackie asked. 

"You don't live with Mike without learning a few tricks," Mina replied as she blindly used the piece of glass to cut the rope that restrained her hands. After a minute, she was free. "See?" Mina said. 

She helped untie the others. After they were all free, Lita said, "Well, that was easy!" 

Serena added, "Yeah, a bit TOO easy..." 

"I bet there's nothing to worry about," Kim replied. "Besides, you've got...." 

"Oh yeah, that's right!" 

"MOON STAR POWER!" 

"JUPITER STAR POWER!" 

"VENUS STAR POWER!" 

--------------------------------------------------------------- 

"You are aware this is a dangerous job," Hacker One said to Jake and Mike in Dimensional Travel 8. 

"Don't need to worry about us," Jake said. "We were trained for this, remember?" 

"Let's hope so," Hacker added as he turned on the gateway. "It's all yours, good luck!" 

Jake and Mike jumped in the portal and disappeared. 

--------------------------------------------------------------- 

The group of five - Sailor Moon, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus, Kim, and Jackie - walked down an ill-lit corridor trying to keep a watchful eye of any openings that would reveal attacking enemies. Suddenly, someone holding a small gun appeared in front of them. 

Sailor Moon, to her surprise, said, "Darien!?" 

The five stopped. Kim used her fire gun in the air to light up the room so they could see clearer. Surely enough, it was who Sailor Moon thought it was. 

Sailor Moon took a step forward, but Sailor Venus stopped her, saying, "Don't. Darien's our enemy now, remember?" 

Darien smiled and said, "Now, doesn't THIS sound familiar?" 

TO BE CONTINUED... 


	17. Saved a Second Time

Episode 17: Saved A Second Time

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 17: Saved a Second Time 

Darien continued to hold Sailor Moon, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus, Kim, and Jackie at gun point. "Not a step closer," he says every time he anticipates their moves. 

But Sailor Moon is persistent. "C'mon Darien! Don't you remember us? We're your friends!" 

Darien's threats and Sailor Moon's persuasive actions soon bored Kim. "Are we getting out of here anytime soon?" she thought out loud. 

After ten minutes or so, Queen Beryl appeared in a somewhat ghostly form behind Darien. "Is everything going according to plan?" she asks. 

"Yes, Queen Beryl," Darien replied as he turned around. "I have the Sailor Scouts and their friends right where we want them." 

"Very good. Make sure it stays that way until I get there." At that Queen Beryl disappeared. 

"Well, I guess that's--where'd they go?" Darien turned around, but no one was there. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The group of five had managed to escape and were running in the opposite direction. "I didn't know it was that easy!" Jackie said while she ran. 

Sailor Jupiter added, "Now where are we headed?" 

Kim reached into her pocket and picked up her scanner. She turned it on and replied, "Hmm......Jake and Mike are somewhere around here, maybe we'll find them!" 

--------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Sure enough, Jake and Mike were also wandering the ill-lit caverns of the NegaVerse. Jake held Chris' water cannon, while Mike was using a scanner as he closely examined the "blinking dots" that moved all around its' monitor. No doubt it was the group of five that were taken from the FRC building. Mike looked up at Jake and said, "When I get my hands on Queen Beryl, she's gonna pay for taking Mina!" 

Jake replied, "And for taking Serena, too. Where are they anyways?" 

The two stopped in front of a cave opening as Mike added, "Hmm, they're about twenty feet ahead of--" 

Jake and Mike could hear noises coming from the opening in front of them. They could not see in front of them, though, as they got run over by the incoming group. All of them tripped and fell to the ground. 

Sailor Jupiter, not realizing who it was, jumped to her feet and shouted, "You're gonna pay for that!" 

Mike replied, "Hey guys, it's us!" 

Sailor Venus stood up and took a closer look. When she realized it was Mike, she put her arms around him and added, "It IS you!" 

Jake smiled and asked, "Well, now that we have that settled, ready to get out of--hey, where's Serena?" 

They all realized that Sailor Moon was the missing person from the group. All six of them looked around with a look that said, "Where'd she go?" 

--------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Not very far away, Sailor Moon was being carried away by Darien. "Stop struggling!" he said. 

"Let me go, Darien!" Sailor Moon replied. "Why are you doing this, anyways?" 

At that moment, Queen Beryl appeared right in front of them. She looked at Darien with a disappointing look and said, "You lost them all!?" 

"Yes, but I have Sailor Moon right here!" 

"Hmm, well, that's at least better than nothing....kill her right here!" 

Darien reached for his gun one more time and pointed it at Sailor Moon. At that moment, he hesitated to pull the trigger. He had hesitated because he was looking at Sailor Moon, who had a sad but determined look on her face. 

Sailor Moon said softly, "Please, Darien.....remember!" 

And he did; Darien had a vague memory of a girl he had sworn to love, of a girl that fought by his side, of a girl he was destined to be with. He concentrated on that single thought as more unclear yet familiar memories surfaced in his mind. 

"Don't listen to her," Queen Beryl said, but already she felt defeat was imminent. 

Darien struggled to remember, "Her name.....her name was Serena.....Sailor Moon!" At that moment he pointed his gun away from Sailor Moon and towards Queen Beryl, who he found was his true enemy. He fired two shots at Queen Beryl, causing a great deal of pain. 

Queen Beryl fell to the ground and disappeared, but not before saying, "Y-you haven't seen the last of me!" 

Sailor Moon smiled as she said, "Welcome back, Darien!" She reached for her locket and added, 

"MOON CRYSTAL HEALING....ACTIVATION!" 

Pure energy filled the room and went around Darien's body. It only took a few seconds, and the light from the energy disappeared quickly, but Darien was able to say, "T-thank you, Serena..." 

"Hold it right there!" Jake shouted from an opening in the room. He and the other five stood beside him, not aware that all was well. He pointed Chris' water cannon towards Darien and fired, causing a great deal of water to shoot out and hit Darien. 

Almost simultaneously after that, Sailor Jupiter shouted, 

"JUPITER THUNDER....CRASH!" 

....while Jackie took her electricity gun and fired in the same direction. The lightning and the thunder joined together to create a highly-powerful force. With the help of the water, it hit and electrocuted Darien so bad it rendered him unconscious even before he hit the ground. 

"What're you doing, guys!?" Sailor Moon shouted as she closely examined Darien. "I had already healed him!" 

Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus had fazed, knowing they have made a tragic mistake, but Mike had asked, "Did we do something wrong?" 

Sailor Moon did not respond to that remark, but added, "Oh no, he's not breathing! We have to get him out of here!" 

--------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The three Sailor Scouts and the four Reality Jumpers took Darien to the NYU Medical Center, for the FRC medical facility was not enough to provide special emergency treatment. The group of seven watched the group of doctors tending to Darien who was on a hospital bed in an operating room. For fifteen minutes, the medical staff worked with no major progress; he was dying. 

Suddenly, the electrocardiogram that stood next to Darien's bed emitted a steady noise. "We're losing him, get the paddles!" one of the nurses shouted. 

The doctor took the "paddles" from one machine and applied it to Darien's body. He said, "Two-hundred...clear!" 

The team watched in fear as Darien was given more electrical shock. 

"Nothing!" the nurse said. 

"Two-fifty...clear!" 

More electricity was applied, but the EKG continued to show no signs of progress; the term is called "flatline." 

Sailor Moon couldn't help it anymore; she rushed to Darien's side. "Get away from him!" she said towards the medical staff. They did so, knowing they could no longer help Darien. 

"C'mon Darien..." Sailor Moon said as she held Darien. "Don't you die on me..." 

Everyone in the room stood surprised yet silent when Sailor Moon looked at Darien and gave him a passionate kiss. After that, she looked up at the EKG, which continued to display flatline. She looked down at Darien and started crying on him. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------- 

I'll Stand By You 

The Pretenders 

Why you look so sad? 

The tears are in your eyes 

Come on and come to me now 

But don't be ashamed to cry 

Let me see you through 

'Cause I've seen the dark side too 

When the night falls on you 

And you don't know what to do 

Nothing you confess 

Could make me love you less 

I'll stand by you 

I'll stand by you 

Won't let nobody hurt you 

I'll stand by you 

So, if you're mad, get mad 

Don't hold it all inside 

Come on and talk to me now 

But hey, what you got to hide? 

I get angry too 

But I'm a lot like you 

When you're standing by the crossroads 

And don't know which path to choose 

Let me come along 

'Cause even if you're wrong 

I'll stand by you... 

Take me in into your darkest hours 

And I'll never desert you 

I'll stand by you 

--------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Um...doctor..." the nurse mumbled. It was to everyone's surprise when the EKG displayed a pulse. A surprised Sailor Moon looked down at Darien again; she became excited to find Darien was breathing again. 

"Darien?" she said happily. 

Slowly, Darien opened his eyes and saw Sailor Moon. "Serena....?" he said softly. 

Sailor Moon couldn't say a word, but the tears of joy that filled her eyes were enough. The doctors and nurses that stood in the room couldn't believe the medical miracle that they had just witnessed. As for the Sailor Scouts and the Reality Jumpers, they were also overwhelmed and overjoyed in freeing the last of their team from Queen Beryl's grasp. The only noise in the room was the EKG emitting one beep every second, indicating Darien was alive and well once more. 

TO BE CONTINUED... 

(Author's note: Apologies if necessary to the medical profession; despite my mom being a nurse and all, I almost had no idea what I was talking about in the second half of the episode!) 


	18. Love and a Little Lunch

Episode 18: Love, Like, and a Little Lunch

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 18: Love, Like, and a Little Lunch 

"How are you feeling, Darien?" the doctor asked towards his patient. It was Saturday at noon. They, the Sailor Scouts, and the Reality Jumpers, minus Chris and Ami who were back at the FRC, were at the NYU Medical Center to check up on Darien, who has stayed there for almost a week. 

"I'm fine, I guess," Darien replied. "Will I be able to get out of here today, doctor?" 

"I'm afraid not. I have to run another set of tests before you can be released, but I expect you out of here tomorrow." 

"Don't worry, Darien," Serena added. "You'll be safe here." 

"You know," Rei said. "I can't believe we missed everything last Monday!" 

Mike answered, "Yeah, too bad, eh?" 

"Look, I apologize," the doctor added. "But I'm afraid visiting hours are almost over." 

"Um, doctor," Darien said. "I need to speak with Jake alone for a few more minutes." 

Jake looked uneccessarily surprised. "Me?" 

"Yeah." 

The doctor sighed, "Very well, but the rest of you must leave the room." 

The other seven followed the doctor out, leaving Jake and Darien in the room. It was quiet for a few moments, but finally Darien said something. "I want to...thank you." 

"Thank me? For what?" Jake asked nervously. 

"Well....I hear you have taken care of Serena for the past few weeks, am I right?" 

Jake knew he was in trouble, "U-um, it was nothing...really!" 

Still, Darien sounded grateful, "I can't thank you enough...I don't know what I would've done if Serena was....gone, you know?" 

"Yeah...look, you really don't have to thank me or anything. We're pretty much even...I put you on that hospital bed! Isn't that a bit...disturbing?" 

Darien laughed, "No, of course not.....well, yeah, OK. But it doesn't matter, I'm alive and I'm getting out of this bed, right?" 

"Hmm, I guess so...I'd, um, better get going." 

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." 

As Jake walked out, he felt very relieved. "This guy doesn't know a thing about what's going on!" he thought. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

The thoughts of relief left Jake as he and the others took a ride on the MagLev to the mall to have some fun. Jake looked at Serena, who sat across from him, and realized he was right on what he said before: there was nothing he could do about it. 

Mike and Mina, on the other hand, had their own scenario. As Mike attempted to open the wrapper of his candy bar, Mina asked, "Do you need help?" 

Mike replied, "Me, no....well, OK," as he handed the candy bar to her. With the greatest of ease, Mina was able to open the wrapper. 

"Here you go," she said, giving the open candy bar back to Mike, only to find he was staring at her blankly. "What?" Mina added. 

"Did I ever tell you...how beautiful you look?" 

"Yeah....about a dozen times!" Mina laughed. 

Mike laughed as well, "No, this time I mean it!" 

After a second of that, Mike and Mina stared at each other as they got closer once again. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Head Over Feet 

Alanis Morissette 

I had no choice but to hear you 

You stated your case time and again 

I thought about it 

You treat me like I'm a princess 

I'm not used to liking that 

You asked how my day was 

You've already won me over in spite of me 

And don't be alarmed if I fall head over feet 

And don't be surprised if I love you for all that you are 

I couldn't help it 

It's all your fault 

Your love is thick and it's swallowed me whole 

You're so much braver than I gave you credit for 

That's not lip service 

(repeat chorus) 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"Ahem..." Lita whispered to the two. Mike and Mina quickly withdrew from their actions, but they had already revealed their intentions towards the rest of the passengers on the MagLev. 

Mike whispered to Mina, "Later..." 

Mina nodded. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"You sure these readouts are accurate?" Chris asked. He, Ami, and Hacker One were in one of the main computer rooms back at the FRC building. 

"Yes," Ami replied. "It is evident that there is major activity within the NegaVerse. Energy expense from entities within the NegaVerse have increased about four, five hundred percent." 

Hacker One added, "Doesn't suggest anything threatening at the current time. I see no advantage Queen Beryl could have in just wasting energy unless there building some kind of object that could disable our forces, but...." 

Chris interrupted, "Yes, yes....'the forces of the FRC should, with the use of state-of-the-art equipment, be adaptive to every known and/or unknown weapon, dangerous or otherwise, in order to block, prevent, or redirect any incoming threats.'" 

"W-what were you just talking about?" Ami asked. 

Hacker One said, "Ah yes, part two, section eight, line fourteen of the Multiple Earths Treaty Act of 1986, otherwise known as M.E.T.A." 

Chris and Hacker then laughed a bit. 

Ami added, "Was that used to...impress me?" 

"Well, yeah," Chris admitted. "Did it work?" 

"A bit, but it wasn't really necessary, you know..." 

"You see?" Hacker said amusingly as he was on his way out the door. "Women really aren't attracted to intelligence. Ah well, carry on." 

As Hacker One left the room, Chris said, "Don't worry 'bout all that, just having a bit of fun," as he went back to work at one of the computers. 

Ami agreed, but he couldn't help notice the intelligible yet charming and carefree personality that Chris had easily maintained. It almost made Chris a sweet person, not to mention it made him look kind of cute--wait a minute! Ami snapped out of the distraction that she had made. "Yes, of course," Ami thought. "I have work to do...." Ami did her best to push the thought aside as she resumed with calculating statistics. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Staten Island Mall. The group went in all different directions throughout the three sectors of the mall. Jake went straight to the crowded food court to have lunch and a place to think for a while. As he took a bite out of his burger, he thought, "If I tell Serena now, she'll probably never talk to me again, but she'll never know if I don't! How did this all get so confusing?" 

Serena happened to walk by the food court and see Jake having his lunch. She thought, "I should be happy that I have Darien back, but I have Jake over there as well. I can't have them both! And I thought school was tough!" Serena gathered up the courage to walk up to Jake and say, "Hi! S'ok if I sit down?" 

Jake looked up, "Um.....s-sure!" 

When Serena sat down, both became very uneasy. Instead of looking at each other, they both looked in different places, finding words to say to each other. It was very silent for the next few minutes. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the mall, Mike went on his own to look for a gift for Mina. "Candy? Flowers? No, everybody does that stuff. Gotta think of something...how 'bout a CD? No, bet she doesn't listen to American music. Maybe a dress? No, I'll probably make a fool out of myself...choose the wrong dress or something..." 

Mina was in a different section of the mall, just looking for some clothes. She was already carrying a bag, containing a pair of shoes, in her hands, and was looking around to buy some more stuff, having learned how to obtain a FRC credit card from Kim. The mall was partly crowded, due to the usual weekend sales, and so Mina had to manuever around the people that had occupied space within the building. Suddenly, she walked in front of someone, causing both Mina and the person to fall back onto the floor. Fortunately, the person had broken Mina's fall. 

Mina quickly became apologetic, "I am SO sorry about that..." 

"That's all right," the person said, who had just came into Mina's view. The person was a boy about the same age and height as Mike. To be honest, despite how different he looked from Mike, he was just as cute. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Jackie suddenly stopped walking and started wondering. 

"What's up?" Rei and Kim asked. 

"I don't know..." Jackie replied. "But why do I suddenly have this feeling that this is going to be an eventful day?" 

Lita said, "Why is that?" 

"Hmm, no idea....I just think this ain't going to be a normal day...hmm, maybe it's just me." 

Jackie sighed and signaled the other three to continue walking. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Back at the computer room in the FRC, it was also silent between Chris and Ami. "I suppose it's logical," Ami thought as she typed away at the keyboard. "But why do I fear the outcome of this? It's obvious we're winning this battle, and it's only a matter of time before we have to say...goodbye. Why am I afraid of getting....a broken heart?" 

Chris, partly paying attention to his work, was almost lost in thought, "Why am I so afraid to look at Ami? She's so intelligent, so modest, so....she's so fine! I can't believe I sleep in the same room with her!" 

The pressure in that silent room increased so much to the point that Chris got out of his seat and said, "IhavetogooutforaminuteI'llberightback..." 

As Chris left the room, Ami took a deep breath and said to herself, "What am I going to do!?" 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

(we have to backtrack four minutes and sixteen seconds, OK?) 

"So, Mina," John, the boy Mina had tripped over, said as he walked along with her. "You were looking for a present for..." 

"His name's Mike," Mina replied. "I've known him for a few weeks, but I still don't know what he would like!" 

"How about a CD? I like music myself, maybe this Mike person does too." 

"Yeah, he does, but I'm not into music." American music, at least. 

"Well, walk with me to the music store, they have a few new ones out, I'll show them to you." 

"OK!" 

Mina followed John in the direction of the music store, the problem was they resembled a couple. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

For the past few minutes, it was still silent between Serena and Jake, who were both back in the food court. 

"So," Jake finally said. "Darien...will finally be out of the hospital tomorrow?" 

"Um, yeah..." Serena replied. She didn't want him to talk about that; Darien was the last thing on her mind. 

But Jake thought silently, "She still thinks about him, no surprise there. I was right all along, Serena really doesn't care about me!" 

He spoke out loud again, "Look Serena...if it's really uncomfortable to be with me, then I'll go." 

Serena looked surprised as tears started to form, "Jake?" 

"No, that's OK....I have to leave anyways...but I just wanted to say....oh, what's the point!?" Jake stood up and walked away. 

A now-more-than-ever-confused Serena started to cry as she said silently, "Jake....please, come back...I know what you wanted to say, but..." 

Unfortunately, Jake couldn't hear Serena's thoughts. As he walked away, a tear from Jake's eyes splashed onto the floor. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

(Author's note: This isn't becoming like a soap opera yet, is it?) 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Back at the FRC, Ami's thoughts were more complex than ever. "Why am I getting so worried over all this? I've been in this kind of situation before, right? I'm just going to go up to Chris and talk this over..." 

But as soon as she stood up from her chair, the door opened and Chris walked through it. He looked nervous when he said, "We...have to talk." 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"Hey, Mina!" Rei shouted. She and the other three wondered who was that Mina was walking with. 

"C'mon," Mina said as she took John by the hand to show him to her friends. When they got together, Mina then said, "Guys, I'd like you to meet John here." 

"Um...hi," John said, but his attention quickly turned to Lita instead of the rest of the group. "P-please tell me we haven't met before, um..." 

Lita was also dazed, "It's Lita...and no, we haven't met..." 

"Oh, thank you....for a minute there you reminded me of one of my old girlfriends..." 

Rei looked down, "Hmm, where have we heard that before?" 

Mike happened to walk by. He saw the four girls talking to Mina and some other boy she held by the hand. For some reason, Mike quickly grew jealous. He moved out of sight from the group but was able to see what he thought they might be up to. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"We have to set some...guidelines," Chris said. 

"I agree," Ami replied. 

"I mean, it's obvious we like each other....OK, we like each other alot, but...um...I don't want to hurt you or anything." 

Ami felt relieved, "To be honest, that's almost what I thought!" 

"Because, you know, I've never...you know...fell in love before, and I've never actually put any thought to it." 

"Is it....OK if we can just be...friends?" 

Chris also felt relieved, "Well, yeah! I mean, if that's OK with you...." 

They smiled calmly at each other and went back to work, but at the same time they both thought, "Can't believe I messed that one up...." 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"What is Mina doing with that kid?" Mike asked to himself as he continued to hide from the group. 

"Now if you'll excuse me, Lita," Mina said. "John has to show me what to buy for Mike." 

John asked, "I do? Oh yeah, I do! I have to go, Lita." 

As Mina pulled John away, Lita replied in a dazed tone, "A-already?" 

John and Mina were now walking towards Mike. Only twenty yards separated point A from point B, if you know what I mean. Mike was determined to know what was going on. He started walking in front of them, not actually looking at the two. 

Mina saw Mike and said, "Hi, Mike!" 

"Mina," Mike said in a different tone. 

Suddenly, Jackie and Lita walked up to John and Mina. Lita handed John a piece of paper and said, "H-here's my number...c-call me, OK?" 

"Sure, maybe later..." 

Jackie and Lita walked away. Jackie whispered to Lita, "That's MY number, remember?" 

Mike became confused and relieved at the same time. What is Lita doing with this person if this person is with Mina? He couldn't think of any question to ask anymore except, "U-um, what time is it?" 

Mina looked at her watch, "It's almost 6:30. We're supposed to be at the exit five minutes ago." 

John was surprised, "Oh no! I have to go too, bye..." and then ran off. 

"Who was that?" Mike asked as they both walked. His jealousy had disappeared, but he still wondered who that was. 

"Oh, just someone I met. For some reason, Lita back there got attached to him..." 

"Yeah, I bet..." Then Mike thought, "IalmostblewthatoneIalmostblewthatoneIalmost..." 

"Mike?" Mina asked. 

"Yeah?" 

"If I met someone else like that....would you get jealous?" 

"Who, me? N-no, I trust you too much!" 

"Hmm, that's good..." 

(Author's note: Yeah, right.) 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"Hey," Rei asked when the group got together at the exit. "Where's Jake?" 

Mike replied, "Oh, don't worry. He said he had to go somewhere else, we can leave without him." 

"Oh, OK." 

As they all walked out of the mall, Serena kept saying to herself as if Jake was listening, "I'm so sorry, Jake...." 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

It was midnight by the time Jake got home. Luna was sitting on the floor when she asked, "What happened?" 

"What are you talking about?" Jake replied. 

"You know...what happened at the mall." 

"A somewhat long story, which I don't have the energy to tell right now...good night." 

He slowly went up the stairs and into his bedroom, where Serena was already asleep on the bed. Jake looked at Serena and didn't know what to think or feel anymore. He had enough confusion, and maybe a bit of misunderstanding on his part, for one day. He stood closer and said softly, "I'm sorry, too..." 

TO BE CONTINUED.... 

(Author's note: I know, I know, I put three of these, which is two over my limit, but I had to add these, there were just some parts that were, you know, incomplete without me adding something only I could say! BTW, I really hope this episode wasn't like a soap opera, I hate those...) 


	19. Time Trap

Episode 19: Time Trap

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 19: Time Trap 

He was in "uniform," if you could call it that. He wore a tuxedo with a cape attatched to it. He wore a top hat with a white mask that concealed his eyes. He was practically dressed for a formal party. He wore all this so that his true identity would remain hidden. There was only one problem: Hacker One was standing in the same room with him when he transformed into those clothes. 

"Impressive," Hacker said to Darien, who was Tuxedo Mask, in the testing room early morning at the FRC building. "But it doesn't prove to me that you're FRC material." 

"I didn't say I was finished," Tuxedo Mask replied. "I did mention that other thing, you know." 

"I....I thought you were kidding when you said you could....'puncture a hole through a solid object with the greatest of ease.'" 

"Well go on, test me." 

"Very well.....computer, simulate a double-titanium wall about six inches thick on the other side of the room." 

Sure enough, the computer acknowledged the command and the wall was made out of thin air. 

"Impressive on your part," Tuxedo Mask added. "But watch this." 

Tuxedo Mask produced an object out of thin air as well: a red rose. He then threw it across the room, stem point first. As it hit the simulated wall, the stem dug into the wall like a hot knife through butter. In fact, the hole the rose produced created a few visible cracks around the hole. 

An astonished Hacker asked, "H-how'd you do that?" 

All Tuxedo Mask did was smile. 

----------------------------------------------------------------- 

It was still morning and the sun had just risen. By that time, Serena was still asleep back in Jake's house. She was having a dream where she saw she was in outer space, but it felt as if her feet touched a solid surface. She could walk in any direction she wanted to, but the direction she took didn't take her anywhere. Serena screamed to the wind, "Where am I? What am I doing here?" 

At a short distance, Serena could see a figure take shape. It looked like a boy, but more to the point, it looked like Jake. But Serena had a feeling that it wasn't Jake, for this figure could've been fooled for an angel without wings. 

For curiosity, Serena asked, "W-who are you?" 

The figure said, "I'm your conscience. You're only here....because you have something on your mind, right?" 

And he was right. Serena's conscience did remind her of something that bothered her all of last night. She collapsed on the invisible ground and started crying. She struggled to talk, "I-I don't know....w-w-what to do....I'm so confused! I m-mean, I g-got two...great guys, only t-that I can only have one!" 

Serena's conscience moved closer, "And...you cried yourself to sleep over this?" 

"O-of course I did! What d-do you....expect me t-t-to do!?" 

"......You make a decision." 

Serena was surprised, "W-what?" 

"Well, Jake seems depressed about this, don't you think? And Darien....heh...he doesn't even know what's going on...sooner or later you HAVE to pick one of them." 

Serena tried to stop crying, "I-I....don't want to hurt you....or Darien." 

"This is not about hurt...this is about who you love more...Jake....or Darien." 

"A-and...how do I figure that out?" 

"Simple....you listen to your heart." 

The dream suddenly faded away as Serena woke up. She felt someone was tapping her shoulder. It was Jake. "C'mon Serena..." he said in a depressed yet patient tone. "We're going to be late for work!" 

Serena opened her eyes and glanced at Jake. She got out of bed and replied softly, "T-thanks." 

"For what?" 

"For....never mind." 

Jake was not in the mood for riddles. "W-whatever," he said as he walked towards the door. 

Serena was again reminded of yesterday's incident. "Look, Jake...." 

"Please, Serena...can we talk about this later? I'm really not for arguing right now..." 

".....Fine, Jake." 

----------------------------------------------------------------- 

It was awfully quiet around the NegaVerse. The little light that traveled through the ill-lit caverns had now faded away. The crooked hallways that contained beings devoted to promoting death were now dead silent. 

Do I need to tell you there's no one here? 

The FRC noticed this and called it the perfect time to investigate a blocked-off area. 

As usual, a portal opened up from a low ceiling in the NegaVerse. From it dropped the team of eleven, consisting of five Reality Jumpers, five transformed Sailor Scouts, and their friend, Tuxedo Mask. They all fell to the ground with nothing to break their fall except the people that fell before them. Unfortunately, Jake was the first to exit the gateway and thus had to suffer the weight of the rest of the team. 

After the light from the closing portal disappeared, Jake said with his face on the cold floor, "Yep....it's Monday." He looked around blindly using his hand to find the flashlight that he was holding. After finding it and turning it on, he stood up and added, "You know, it's unusually dark around here, even for the NegaVerse." 

Sailor Mercury had her computer in her hand, "We're the only lifeforms in this entire area! Where did Queen Beryl and her minions go?" 

Mike asked, "Yeah, what are we doing here anyways?" 

Jake replied, "We're here to confirm that we've won. Considering..." 

Tuxedo Mask interrupted, "Considering I put that gunshot wound into Queen Beryl, it's likely that she's dead, right?" 

"Um, guys?" Sailor Venus said while pointing straight ahead. The rest of the group looked as well. A tornado-like object was spinning towards them at almost blinding speed about a few hundred feet ahead of them. 

"Run!" Jake shouted. They did so in the opposite direction. But their speed wasn't able to match that of the twister, which was gaining on them and fast. Chris, being the slowest, was the first to get caught in it. He screamed, but his voice disappeared in the noise that the twister made. One by one, the others became trapped in the tornado. They all shouted in fear as they disappeared in the middle of the twister. 

----------------------------------------------------------------- 

Jackie had Jake's flashlight in her hand. She stood up and pointed it in a couple of directions, saying, "Guys.....where are we?" 

Sailor Mars got up and looked around, "Hey, we're alive!" 

The others regained consciousness and looked around as well. Chris said, "Well, we're still in the NegaVerse..." 

Jake heard something, "Someone's coming! Let's get outta here!" Quickly, he grabbed the track-and-return device from his pocket and activated it, opening a portal in the right wall. Without hesitation, all eleven jumped in. 

----------------------------------------------------------------- 

A portal opened up in DIMENSIONAL TRAVEL 8, back in the FRC. Out of it were the team of eleven, all bruised and battered, thanks to the twister. Hacker One stood in another corner of the room as he watched them get thrown to the floor. 

Hacker looked at the group, "Well, you guys are here early..." 

Kim replied, "Yeah, we had a slight problem..." 

"I'll bet...you're not due back here in three days!" 

Sailor Moon looked at Hacker, "Three days?" 

"So, Jake, you going to introduce me to your friends here?" 

Jake looked surprised, "What are you talking about?" 

"Look, did you at least get the scanner like you were supposed to?" 

"What scanner?" 

"You know...our missing long-range scanner...from Tek Industries?" 

"Tek Industr---Hacker...we did that mission a while ago!" 

"No......you're doing that mission now. Hey....you guys OK?" 

Mike said, "No, we're not...could you leave us...alone for a minute?" 

"Yeah....sure...." Hacker walked out the door, but not before turning his head and asking, "Who ARE you?" 

As soon as the door closed shut, Tuxedo Mask asked, "WHAT is going on here?" 

----------------------------------------------------------------- 

The team of eleven walked down the busy city street outside the building. It was the same New York City street they had used to get to the FRC building for a long while. The street hasn't changed. The busy people haven't changed. The cars that zoomed by the pedestrians at fifty-five miles per hour haven't changed. Yet the entire team had a feeling something was deeply wrong. 

"I don't get it....at all," Lita said while looking around. "No one in the building knows us....not even the security guards at the front desk!" 

Jake replied, "Well, they seem to know US." 

Chris, meanwhile, was solving the current riddle in his head, "Tek Industries...we did that one a long while ago! A long while....ago!" He then said out loud, "That's it!" Chris walked across the crowded street while the others followed. He took three quarters out of his pocket and put them in a newspaper vending machine. After opening the door and taking out a copy, Chris examined one corner of the front page. "I knew it!" he shouted. 

"What?" Ami asked. 

"This is a paper copy of NewsNetLink.....dated July 13, 1995!" 

The group stood silent, but Serena said, "What does that mean?" 

Chris was almost disappointed in Serena's lack of logic, "It means that twister....sent us back in time exactly one year!" 

TO BE CONTINUED.... 


	20. Terror in the Tower

Episode 20: Terror In The Tower

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 20: Terror in the Tower 

(Author's note: Consider this my rendition of Day of Destiny, if you know what I mean; this time, there's a really good and hopefully credible reason why things get back to status quo!) 

"OK," Serena said. "I'll have a number two, an extra fries, an extra soda..." 

Rei shouted, "How can you eat at a time like this!? We have an emergency!!" 

"I hadn't eaten all day! Give me a break!" 

Night had just fallen over the city. The streets outside were considerably less crowded. The team of eleven all sat down at one table at the restaurant. Serena was the only one eating what she ordered. 

Mina asked, "What do we do now!?" 

Jake replied, "What are we allowed to do? We trapped in--what year is this--1995!" 

"Well," Rei said. "I'm not gonna sit here and do nothing! We gotta find a way back!" 

At that moment, Chris' pager went off. He looked at the message and became worried. The message was garbled, but it was readable: 

"HACK ONE 

LEVL 1O EMURGNCI 

FUL SCALE ATAACK" 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

"It was a dark and stormy night," people could now say. For a part of the city that never sleeps, Fifth and Main was dead quiet. The FRC building never looked so frightening in the nighttime. The outward look had an evil appearance to it, though it looked exactly the same as if it was in complete daytime. Dark clouds circled directly above the building. Pieces of glass that fell from the windows were now on the ground. The now-unusually-empty streets made the FRC headquarters look all the more dangerous. 

With no one around, the Sailor Scouts transformed, 

"MOON STAR POWER!" 

"MERCURY STAR POWER!" 

"JUPITER STAR POWER!" 

"MARS STAR POWER!" 

"VENUS STAR POWER!" 

....while Darien transformed into Tuxedo Mask as they entered the building. The team of eleven had no problem with security measures. The guards at the front desk were, in fact, dead or at least in critical condition, which meant they will be dead in a few hours anyway. Everything else was in pieces. Metal beams fell from the ceiling. The sprinklers, being on the floor when it fell from the ceiling, were spraying water upwards. Sparks flew from every bare wire on the first floor. In short, the lobby was a wreck. 

"W-w-what happened here?" Mike asked. 

Just then, they heard someone shout, "Someone's there!?" 

The voice came from under a pile of wreckage. Jake and Sailor Jupiter helped remove the heavy pieces of metal that weighed down on the victim. They soon realized the victim was Hacker One. His face was slightly burned, his lab coat had been torn in several places, and his glasses had cracks in it. 

"T-thanks, Jake..." Hacker said. "Thanks, um...." 

"Sailor Jupiter," she said, remembering he didn't know who the Scouts were 

"Whatever." 

Jake was the first to ask, "What happened here, Hacker?" 

Hacker was trying to get some air, "Full-scale attack.....said her name....Queen....B-B...." 

"Queen Beryl!?" Sailor Moon said shockingly. 

"Yeah, that was her name.....tore the entire building up...I tried to turn on the emergency gateway....collapsed right here....just when the ceiling right above me....fell apart." 

"Where is she now?" 

"Still here I hope.....in the building....I can tell....I've gotten used to that cold snap of air...." Hacker opened his wallet and handed Jake his access card, "Here, you need this...." 

"Your card? What for?" 

"It's to access....the self-destruct area...." 

"WHAT!?" they all shouted. 

"On the 100th floor.....she's there, I know it....activate the panel there.....the whole building explodes in matter of ten minutes..." 

"We'll never get there," Sailor Mercury said. "If she did all this to the first floor, who knows what she did to the rest of the building." 

"It's the only way you're gonna get rid of her....I've enabled alot of emergency backups so....nobody can escape by teleport...but it's going to make your trip a lot more difficult...." 

"Thanks, Hacker," Kim said. 

"Dont mention it....oh, in the small chance you get out of here alive...you go and tell...my son....that I was sorry....and that I'm proud of him....go, get out of here...." 

At that, Hacker One took his last breath of air and closed his eyes. The team stood silent for a moment, but Jake looked up and said, "C'mon, we have a job to do!" He and the others ran down the hallway to follow their instructions. 

They didn't notice the other contents inside Hacker's wallet, including the driver's license that read, "Harry Crawford." 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

"I trust this is a suicide mission?" Sailor Mars asked as they all raced down the hallway and into the elevator. 

"Let's worry about dying after we turn on the self-destructs, OK?" Jake replied. 

"It's not the self-destruct part I'm not worried about, it's the part about getting there! Look, the elevator!" 

Sure enough, the elevator was just ahead of them. For some reason, it looked fully operational, unlike everything which was in pieces. It didn't matter, they all thought. As soon as the doors closed, Jake pressed the button for the top floor, the 100th floor. 

The trip up the building was expected to be a long while. "At least four minutes," Chris said, who had carefully looked at all the blueprints and specifications that came with FRC building. 

But the trip was only a minute and a half, for the elevator took a quick stop just when the monitor above them read "35" for the 35th floor. The stop brought the team to the ground and dimmed the lights of the elevator car's ceiling. 

"What happened?" one of them said, no one was sure who. 

"The elevator's stalled," Tuxedo Mask replied. That voice they all recognized. 

Suddenly they heard a loud snap as the elevator car dipped half a foot. 

"What now?" 

Chris calmly replied, "I believe that's....the elevator cable....one of eight that's keeping us from falling 30 stories." 

"WHAT!?" they all shouted. 

Another cable broke loose. The elevator car fell further into the shaft. 

"Yeah....if we don't move fast, we're gonna go into freefall!" 

Jake had a pocket flashlight in his hand. Light filled the room, revealing everyone's fearful faces. 

"What do we do now?" Sailor Moon asked. "We have to get out of here!" 

Another loud snap. Actually, two. 

Chris, after quickly recovering from another dip into the vertical elevator shaft, said, "We can't. The doors are electromagnetically welded. Wait....THAT'S IT! Jackie?" 

But Jackie was also quick to react, "Yeah, yeah, I got it," she said as she reached for her electric gun. Powerful bursts of electricity shot from the gun and towards the door. A second of electrocution was all it took before the doors opened. Jake and Mike stepped out first, but then another cable lost its' grip, causing the elevator car to fall considerably. The opening was now only half the elevator car's height. 

"C'mon," Mike encouraged while holding out his hand. "It's alright." 

Mike and Jake helped the Sailor Scouts up from the elevator car. As they helped Tuxedo Mask and Chris out, two more cables snapped, leaving only one intact cable that was keeping the elevator car up. 

"C'mon, Jackie," Mike said as he continued to hold out his hand. "Jackie, c'mon!" 

But Jackie was busy lifting Kim up to the opening. Kim looked below her, "Jackie....you don't look too sure about this!" 

"I wish I was!" Jackie replied as she continued to hold Kim up. "But it's either you or me, OK?" 

Once Kim was on stable ground, Jake said fearfully, "We're not going to leave you here, Jackie!" 

But Jackie said, "Go, get out of here! There's only one cable left, you expect to do something before it--" 

She was suddenly cut off when the final cable gave way, causing the elevator to fall through the shaft. After half a minute, the team could hear a faint crash coming from the bottom of the shaft. At that moment, Jake was filled with sadness and anger, as did the rest of the team. He said, "When I get Queen Beryl, she's going to pay!" 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

Nevertheless, they continued their climb up the tower. The stairs were considered safer than the elevator in an emergency, but were no more stable in this situation. Pieces of concrete had fallen from the steps and were continuing to crumble. A tired yet angered team of ten had gone several flights up the stairs. The last number they had seen painted on the wall was "49." 

As they walked up the stairs, Sailor Venus asked, "Isn't there any other elevator? Sorry to complain, but I hate the stairs!" 

Kim replied, "If I'm right, there's an emergency elevator on the far end of the 51st floor, but it's a long way from here." 

Unfortunately, they didn't notice the security camera equipped on the wall as they progressed through another flight of stairs. As soon as the camera sensed their motion, the overhead lights glowed red while a voice said, "SECURITY BREACH....SECURITY BREACH...." It was obvious the stairway was no longer safe. 

"C'mon, let's go!" Mike shouted. 

Quickly, they all rushed up the stairs, looking for a doorway to the next floor. In their haste, another important object went unnoticed, a small security laser beam. With the input supplied by the security camera, the weapon turned itself on and aimed its' cannon at Sailor Mercury. It went through the necessary 2-second charge before firing, and thus emitted a faint humming sound. Chris was right behind Sailor Mercury, noticed the faint sound, and quickly became aware of where it was coming from. He was quick to react; he pushed Sailor Mercury out of the way and fired his own water cannon towards the beam, but before the laser delivered a direct and lethal hit to Chris' body. 

Two things were clear among the team: the unnoticed laser cannon was shorted out, along with the entire defense system for the stairway, and Chris was lying on the ground in need of critical medical care, something MedLab can no longer provide. 

Jake rushed to Chris' side, "Chris! Not you too!" 

Chris gave a faint smile as he replied very weakly, "I'm sorry, Jake...I acted before I thought...heh, first time I ever did that....I'll bet you it'll be my last..." 

"Don't you die on me, Chris. We need you here!" 

"Yeah, well....we're a bit late now, don't you think? Ami....you there?" 

Sailor Mercury leaned closer, "Yes?" 

"You know when I said I only wanted us....to just be friends?" 

"Yeah..." 

Chris' last words became, "I'm sorry....I lied..." 

As he closed his eyes, he gave the most peaceful and innocent look anyone could give. But it was not enough to keep Jake and Sailor Mercury from weeping over Chris' lifeless body. 

Sailor Mars said, "Ooh....if anyone else dies here today, IT'LL BE QUEEN BERYL!" 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

Transcript from Action 4 News, special report edition, 7/13/95 

THIS TRANSCRIPT MAY NOT BE RELEASED, RETRANSMITTED, OR REPRODUCED TO THE PUBLIC WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF ACTION 8 NEWS 

Visual: Special Report Intro. 

Announce: This is an update from Action 4 News. 

Visual: Mark Leyton sitting behind Action 4 News desk. 

Leyton: We are continuing coverage of the highly-mysterious FRC incident down on Fifth and Main. Just one and a half hours ago all transmissions originating from the building, audio AND video, were mysteriously cut off. For over an hour, there has been no known activity within the building at all. There are no known threats towards the organization the past week, but it is clear someone is out to destroy the headquarters here in New York City. Eyewitness reports show that a group of kids, the number unknown, entering the building. It is apparent they have not exited the building; the building and the immediate perimeter seems to be protected by a force field, preventing anyone to enter the area. The specifications of any field generator that could cause this are unknown to the New York Police Department, nor is that their main priority at this time. Jill Foster is live with us right now. Jill? 

Visual: A close-up skyview of the Federal Reality Commission Headquarters, previously recorded minutes ago before Action 4 lost feedback from A4NYC Copter. 

Visual: Jillian Foster with microphone facing camera, background is Fifth Street leading to FRC building, now covered with yellow police tape. 

Audio: Police and ambulance sirens. SWAT team alarm. Planetary defense systems activated. 

Foster: Thanks, Mark. What you just saw was brief footage of the FRC building from the News Helicopter right before it was apparently shot down. If you look carefully, you'll see what appears to be a person on the rooftop, and that person is definitely responsible for the attack on our helicopter. I must regretfully report that our pilot and sky-camera man, Joe Porter, is dead. Porter has been with us at WATV for three years, and we are INDEED angered at the person or persons responsible for his quick death. The police are looking in on the entire situation now, their first priority is to break the outer defenses. Along with a protective force field, security is obviously tightened around the building's exterior, so it is absolutely dangerous to even try to attack the building. The police's other priority is to find out what has happened in there, and if there is anything they can do to help any hostages within the building. We will continue coverage throughout tonight's broadcast and will eventually get to the bottom of this situation. For now, I'm Jill Foster, Action 4, Fifth and Main. 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

The 72nd floor. The nearest office clock had just turned "21:00." Jake looked around the corner very closely. He sighed, "It's clear, guys." He became very cautious, he didn't want to lose anyone else, but it was Sailor Moon that knew it was happening all over again. 

On their way to the next elevator - hopefully all the way up to the 100th floor - the team of nine noticed smoke coming from one of the intersections. Mike quickly stopped the rest of the team and noticed what was there: a fire broke out behind one of the security desks. It didn't take long for the building's computer to respond, "FIRE ON 72ND FLOOR.....FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM DISABLED......" 

Sailor Venus pointed straight ahead and shouted, "Look!" 

They all did so. The doors were sealing themselves shut and a sealed wall appeared in front of the elevator. The computer announced, "SECONDARY FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS DISABLED.....ACTIVATING OXYGEN DEPLETION SYSTEM....." The air ducts above started removing oxygen from the room's atmosphere in order to put out the fire. 

"We'll run out of air in minutes!" Tuxedo Mask said. "We have to do something!" 

Everyone looked around for a solution. Suddenly, Kim noticed a room-sized window at one end of the hallway, just fifteen feet away from where they all stood. At the top of the window peeked out two metal bars that lead to the emergency escape ladder. 

"That's our way out!" Kim said as she pointed towards the window. When she was close enough, she used her own body to run into the window. She was partly successful; the window shattered into pieces on the floor, but there was a layer of glass remaining. 

"D*mn!" Kim shouted as she looked at her arm, being bruised from the impact. "Should've known this was double-layered!" 

"I'll try this," Tuxedo Mask said. He quickly took a rose from thin air and threw it towards the window. Unfortunately, to everyone's surprise, the rose did nothing to penetrate the glass as it fell to the ground. 

Mike's attention wasn't on the window anymore as he tried to breathe for air, "I'm getting dizzy, guys..." 

Everyone else noticed the air was getting extremely thin. 

Kim moved further away from the window and said, "We don't have any time for this!" She tried again to break the window by running into it. 

As Kim charged towards the glass, she acquired a loss of consciousness from lack of air. At that same moment, she quickly forgot what she was doing, but continued to run towards the window. At last, the glass broke, but only when the quick rush of oxygen did she remember what she was doing. To her misfortune, she was slow to react; instead of stopping right at the edge of the building floor, she fell through the opening and down over 70 stories to the ground to the concrete sidewalk. 

It only took a few seconds for everyone else to regain full consciousness, but then Kim had already fallen to her death. Instead of crying, Jake pounded the wall. "Why is this happening!?" he said as put a dent into the wall. 

Sailor Moon tried to pull Jake away from the wall, "C'mon, Jake....we gotta stop Queen Beryl!" 

But to her surprise, even Jake sounded discouraged as the tears formed in his eyes, "I can't, Serena....don't ya see? We'll never make it!" 

"We're almost there, Jake!" Mike replied. "We can't give up now! It's either us or the entire city!" 

Jake looked outside. Dark skies had extended all over the entire skyline. New York City was consumed in darkness. They had no choice. Queen Beryl had to be stopped. Jake wiped the tears from his eyes and said, "You're right....let's go....." 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

The emergency ladder took them only as far as the 99th floor. Within twenty minutes, they were walking along the next-to-last floor, heading for the only elevator that connected people to the top floor. 

As soon as the remaining eight approached the elevator doors, they could see a force field cover the door, preventing their progress. 

"Great," Sailor Moon said. "Now what?" 

Sailor Jupiter replied, "I got this one." Everyone stood a couple of feet away from the door as Sailor Jupiter shouted, 

"JUPITER THUNDER.....CRASH!" 

Electricity lighted up the entire floor as hit against the energy field. Unfortunately, the bolt of lightning was absorbed by the field. 

"Oops," she said to her surprise. 

Just then, Mike noticed a control panel opposite the elevator. "I think this is it," he said as he walked towards it. 

Jake held him back, not wanting to take any more chances, "Mike, got a bad feeling about this?" 

"Yeah, of course. But how do you expect us all to get upstairs?" 

"OK, just be careful." 

"Always am, Jake," he said with confidence. 

Mike took his ID card and dropped it into the slot. He then started giving the commands to drop the force field. Tuxedo Mask had his attention on the elevator door, when he saw the force field getting brighter when it started gathering energy - probably from Sailor Jupiter's lightning bolt. He also noticed an electrical cord connecting an outlet adjacent the elevator to the access panel. He said in fear, "Mike, you'd better hurry up!" 

They could all hear a faint humming sound getting louder. Jake shouted, "Mike, hurry up!" 

Mike could hear the sound too, but continued to operate the panel, "I can drop the field from here!" 

With luck, the streaks of light that represented the force field disappeared, but not before channeling its' energy through the electrical cord and into the control panel. The panel exploded right in front of Mike as he was thrown backwards a considerable distance. 

"D*mn!" they could hear him all shout. 

The other seven ran to Mike, who was obviously injured and, just like the other three, prepared to die. 

Jake had tears in his eyes again, "Y-ya knew this was going to happen..." 

Mike whispered, "Y-yeah..." 

"Didn't have to do that, you know." 

"Yeah, trust me, I did. Listen...Mina?" 

Sailor Venus bent down and asked, "What is it?" 

Mike smiled, "If...if I told you...I loved you...would you believe me?" 

Sailor Venus smiled as well. Bits of light reflected off the tears in her eyes. 

"Look," Mike continued, "Just go....get Queen Beryl for me. I'm not going to die for nothing....ya know!" 

He closed his eyes and died in Sailor Venus' arms very peacefully. Silence overcame all of them for what seemed to be a long while, until the elevator doors opened themselves. 

Jake sighed. He had revenge in mind, "That's it! Let's go finish up what they started!" 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

The 100th floor, just like every other floor, was dead quiet. Seven people searched for what they were looking for. After walking down the dark and winding hallways for over ten minutes, Sailor Jupiter was the first to notice a sign on a metal-reinforced door that read, "WARNING: COMMAND CENTRE." 

"I think this is it, guys," she said. "How do we get in?" 

Jake pried the door open and replied, "Like that." 

It was a large room. There was not enough light to illuminate everything. Some parts of the area were barely covered with light, others left in complete darkness. Because of a contruction error, the large self-destruct panel was placed conveniently next to the door on the inside, leaving it an open target for any intruders. The Sailor Scouts along with the only Reality Jumper left should be fortunate that the construction workers that had created the FRC building long ago had made this error. 

Sailor Moon watched Jake enter Hacker's ID card into the panel while the rest of the team watched if anyone was there, but the room was too dark for anyone to look carefully. 

"So this is it, eh?" Sailor Moon asked. 

Jake replied, "Yeah." 

"How do we get out of here?" 

No response from Jake, but Sailor Moon got the picture. 

After a minute, Jake said, "That's it! The thing's set at ten minutes." 

All of a sudden, they heard a laugh. It was Queen Beryl! The lights got brighter, obviously not damaged. Queen Beryl was standing on the other side of the room smiling wickedly. "Just as I planned! I've never been this fortunate since I destroyed the Moon Kingdom!" 

Tuxedo Mask shouted, "You can't stop us! This place'll blow up in twenty minutes!" 

Queen Beryl leaned closer, "Are you brave enough to sacrifice your own lives?" 

They all replied, "You bet!" 

"Even....these lives?" A large panel opened behind Queen Beryl revealing a room-sized compartment. In that compartment were ten people the team was very shocked to see. The ten people unconscious on the floor behind Queen Beryl were the Reality Jumpers and the Sailor Scouts. 

"She's," Sailor Moon said while she pointed at the person that looked like her. "She's...me!" 

Sailor Mercury looked at them all, "You killed them!" 

Queen Beryl continued, "No, not yet, dear. See, you forgot you're here in the past. I should know, my time twister brought you here. These are your counterparts of THIS time, 1995. If they were dead, all of YOU would cease to exist! And if anyone is going to kill them, it's you! Now, turn off the self-destruct." 

But Sailor Mars stepped forward, "Never!" 

"Very well," Queen Beryl said. "Either way I win. If this building blows up, you will never be here to stop my counterpart. The NegaVerse WILL prevail!" 

"Why you--" Jake said as he started walking towards Queen Beryl, in some kind of effort that he might surprise her. But she waved her hand towards Jake and an energy beam came shooting towards him. But Jake was quick to react as he reached for his mirror and shouted, 

"MIRROR.....REFLECT!" 

His mirror attempted to shield the group, but the beam was too powerful to be stopped. The beam went through the mirror shield and hit Jake, but it didn't stop there. As Jake dealt with the pain, Sailor Moon, being directly behind him, was hit by the powerful beam as well. 

Then, something happened with Jake and Sailor Moon. Neither of them could describe it, but it seemed they were somehow connected by the energy beam. In a split second, both of them could look into each other's thoughts, feel what each other felt, know what each other knew....the possibilities were almost endless. But it was only there for a split second. The strain that they both endured rendered them weak but still conscious as they were thrown towards the back wall. 

Queen Beryl said, "You will give me the access card. NOW!" 

Sailor Venus stared at Jake and Sailor Moon. In a way, they looked like a couple; now, she thinks, it will never be that way. "You'll never win, Queen Beryl!" 

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM.....SMASH!" 

A ray of light streaked across the room, but never made it all the way to Queen Beryl. The invisible dark energy that the wicked being possessed prevented the beam from ever touching Beryl. Instead, she rechanneled that same beam to work against Sailor Venus. Being surprised, the Sailor Scout was unable to dodge the beam when it hit her. She screamed before she was knocked to the ground. 

Sailor Mars knew it was her turn, "We'll get you for this!" 

A word said by Queen Beryl stuck in Jake's mind: counterpart. He whispered to Sailor Moon, who was right next to him, "Y-you still there, Serena?" 

"O-ow," Sailor Moon replied. "Yeah..." 

"I got a plan..." 

"MARS FIRE.....IGNITE!" 

The temperature in the room went up very quickly as a great amount of fire filled the room. The flames were so high that Sailor Mars could not see her adversary. The fire quickly died out though, to her misfortune, as soon as she saw Queen Beryl, who had managed to survive. In the evil woman's hand was a ball of smoke, obviously collected from the fire. "Nice try," she said before she threw it towards Sailor Mars. The ball of smoke dispersed into the air around the Sailor Scout. The black mist filled her lungs, preventing Sailor Mars to breathe. She turned unconscious before she hit the ground. 

The fate of the team fell in Sailor Jupiter's hands. "You're going to pay for all this, Queen Beryl! Mercury, give me a hand!" 

Sailor Mercury nodded and shouted, 

"MERCURY ICE BUBBLES....FREEZE!" 

This time, the temperature dropped as fast as it rose when tiny bubbles shot through the air and made contact with Queen Beryl. She dropped to the ground as soon as the bubbles turned into ice, but not before Sailor Jupiter jumped up and dealt a good kick. 

Queen Beryl was somewhat weak. She felt the cut from her face that Sailor Jupiter gave to her. Angered, she said, "You'll never defeat me! NEVER!" She waved her hand again, and another energy beam came and attacked the remaining two Scouts so fast they never realized what Queen Beryl was up to. 

Behind Queen Beryl was Jake's counterpart as he woke up suddenly from the noise that Beryl's enemies made. He also thought he was dreaming, he saw himself crawl across the floor to try to reach the access panel on the left wall. "I look like hell," he commented about himself. He also saw a beautiful girl limping across the floor as well, trying to reach the access panel on the right wall. The counterpart looked beside him; that same girl was lying next to him on the floor! "Oh man...." he said as he fainted. 

"It's just you and me, Beryl!" Tuxedo Mask said. 

Queen Beryl replied, "I suppose you don't want to...rule by my side again?" 

The man in the cape threw a rose towards the wicked creature and managed to hit her right shoulder. Blood started to appear where the puncture was made as Queen Beryl cried out. But the cry didn't last long. She said, "Nothing will stand in the way of my plans! Take this!" Yet another energy beam sparked across the room. It held the same result as the rest; Tuxedo Mask fell to the ground, left injured from the blast. 

Weak from the attacks of the Sailors Scouts and Tuxedo Mask, Queen Beryl still managed to laugh, "I did it! At last, I beat them all!" 

"Not so fast, Queen Beryl!" Jake shouted. He was barely touching the controls of the access panel. 

"What is this!?" 

"Serena, HIT IT!" 

Queen Beryl looked across the room where Sailor Moon was. She too was at the controls of a panel. At the same time, both Jake and Sailor Moon pressed a button and machinery noise filled the room. Beryl closed her eyes, waiting for another attack to come upon her. But nothing happened to her. She opened her eyes to see her view unchanged; Jake and Sailor Moon were still at the controls, but they gave a relieving smile. "What is going on?" she demanded. 

"I want to know that as well!" a voice said behind Queen Beryl. What was so shocking was that it sounded just like her! In fact, it was her! Queen Beryl turned around. To her ultimate surprise, she saw herself standing where the abducted Reality Jumpers and the kidnapped Sailor Scouts used to be. They were gone, and Queen Beryl's counterpart took their place when she was pulled into the room by a portal. Queen Beryl faced Jake and Sailor Moon and shouted, "Don't you realize what you've done!?" 

The remaining two didn't get the chance to say anything, because the timer for the self-destruct sequence hit double-zero. The blast was silent but lethal to everyone in the room. Fortunately, the electronic pathways leading to the rest of the building were blocked off thanks to the extensive damage, so the explosion spared the rest of the FRC headquarters. But there was no doubt about it, everyone in the top floor was dead. 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

So, with the Queen Beryl of 1995 dead, how could she live during 1996 and cause this entire mess? That was Jake's theory all along. 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

"Is she OK?" 

"She'll be alright." 

"Wake up, Serena!" 

Sailor Moon quickly got to her feet the second she woke up. She looked around and saw the other Sailor Scouts, along with Tuxedo Mask, Luna, and Artemis. "What happened, guys?" she asked weakly. 

"You fainted," Sailor Venus said. 

"W-where's Jake? O-or Queen Beryl!?" 

Tuxedo Mask replied, "Who?" 

Sailor Mercury added, "Well, one thing's for certain. I scanned it. There's nothing in that portal over there, including Queen Beryl. Just one big false alarm." 

Sailor Moon was confused, "Portal? What's going on!?" 

Sailor Mars shouted, "That's why we're here in the first place! What's up with you, Serena!?" 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

"He's not dead, is he?" 

"No he's not. He'll be fine." 

"Jake! Come back to us!" 

Jake opened his eyes very slowly and saw the rest of his team. At first he was relieved, but then he became worried, "Where are we?" 

Chris replied, "Los Angeles, or what's left of it." 

"FRC gave us a false alarm, Jake. There's no girl here!" Mike added. 

Jackie said, "Man, and I thought this was going to be good!" 

Chris continued, "You dropped right in front of us, Jake. The heat's getting to you!" 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

Jake took the rest of the day off. Down the street, he looked at a building clock. It flashed the date as well: 02-05-96. In a way, Jake became depressed. 

He stopped by the restaurant, where "Serena used to go." As soon as he made his order, he grabbed his tray and went looking for a table. As he walked past the crowd in the restaurant, Jake bumped into someone. 

"Hey!" that person said. That person sounded like Serena. Jake looked at her, hoping she was it. It was a girl, all right, but it wasn't Serena. Discouraged, he said, "Sorry. Excuse me." 

------------------------------------------------------------- 

"You OK, Serena?" Lita said as they walked home. 

"Not really," Serena said very softly. She was not in the best of moods. 

"Want to talk about it?" 

"Not really..." 

Then, they heard something drop on the ground behind them. Actually, Lita heard it; Serena was too much lost in thought. 

"Hey, Serena, you dropped this." Lita handed Serena the object that fell on the ground. It was a small pocket mirror. Obviously it was in her pocket. 

A tear formed in her eye. She looked up at the starry sky and said to herself, "Oh, Jake...." 

TO BE CONTINUED..... 

(Author's note: Yeah, there's more! But I promise, Episode 21 finishes it all!) 


	21. Unfinished Business

Please title this page. (Page 1)

Operation: Reality Check 

A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic 

By Roehl Sybing 

Episode 21: Unfinished Business 

---------------------------------------------------- 

Lost Horizons 

Gin Blossoms 

(lyrics edited) 

The lost horizons I can see are filled with bars and factories 

And in them all we fight to stay alive 

I'll drink enough of anything to make this world look new again 

I'm drunk, drunk, drunk in the gardens and the graves 

She had nothing left to say, so she said she loved me 

And I stood there grateful for the lie 

I'll drink enough of anything to make this girl look new again 

I'm drunk, drunk, drunk in the gardens and the graves 

Turn summer trees to bones and ice 

Turning sad songs against the night 

With words we build and words we break 

I'm drunk, drunk, drunk in the gardens and the graves 

Maybe I could use you to reassure myself 

I wouldn't wish this indecision on anybody else 

I'd drink enough of anything to make this us both look new again 

And when the sin smiles, how could it be wrong? 

The lost horizons I could see are now resigned to memories 

I never thought I'd still be here today.... 

I'd drink enough of anything to make myself look new again 

I'm drunk, drunk, drunk in the gardens and the graves 

---------------------------------------------------- 

"That was Lost Horizons here on 98.9 FM. Good evening, I'm Dan Westwood, I'll be starting off another 45 minutes of the best music on the radio. But first, tonight's weather. Clear skies, slight chance of rain, but don't bet on it....high 84 and low 72, a perfect quiet night out in the city, and if you're listening on the car radio, you know what I mean as you drive by...." 

Those were the were spoken on the radio just before people within half a mile of the FRC building could hear a small explosion ring out. 

So much for the quiet evening. 

---------------------------------------------------- 

Two hours later.... 

"Excuse me, coming through, out of the way!" Hacker One shouted as he walked past the crowds surrounding the FRC building. A giant hole occupied one side of the building where the main command centre was supposed to stand. Five bodies lay inside the blackened room, either dead or just critically injured. The night shift's complement was forty-one. 

Hacker walked up to a man in an FRC uniform and asked, "So much for my day off tomorrow. What happened?" 

"Concussion to the room's fusion power system," the man replied. 

"I know that, you idiot! HOW did it happen?" 

"Well, our best guess is that something blocked the systematic pathways of the fusion core. The blockage built up fusion energy in one area, went into overload." 

"Look around, Johnson. Does this look like an accident?" 

The man Hacker called Johnson observed the room. It was a total disaster. The only two colors that filled the room were gray and black. Fire had touched every part of the room. One of the fallen employees was missing his right hand. 

"No, sir. But who could've caused this?" 

---------------------------------------------------- 

"It's a terrorist group called Free California," Johnson said as he tossed a folder onto Hacker's desk. It was late morning at the time. "We caught one of our agents trying to escape through the gateway, but we caught him in time. He said to us the group offered him $100 million dollars to blow a hole into the building." 

"Yeah, well," Hacker replied. "We're lucky this building's still standing." He then talked into the intercom, "Get Tyler for me. I need to talk to him." 

"What for, sir?" Johnson interrupted. 

"He hasn't given me this month's reports yet." 

"Forgive me, sir, but isn't this an awkward time to handle this situation?" 

"Look, if Free California IS a terrorist group, the last thing they'd expect is for the FRC to get things up and running around here." 

"Good point, sir." 

Another officer, holding a red binder, walked into Hacker's office, "Here's the logs from last night. Shows everyone that walked into the building. I checked it three times." 

"Thanks," Hacker said. He talked into the intercom again, "Get Tyler for me, please!" 

"Tyler? Jake Tyler?" the officer said. 

"Yeah. Why?" 

"His name's in the logs!" 

"WHAT!?" Hacker filed through the logs and saw the name, "Tyler, Jake" in the logs. 

---------------------------------------------------- 

"I got good news and bad news," Johnson said as he held a scanner in hand. He and Hacker One were searching the damaged Command Center. "Good news is I haven't found Tyler's DNA signature, so he's not dead, I hope." 

"I'm going to hate the bad news, right?" Hacker asked. 

"Well, maybe. Someone must've tripped the emergency gateway. He could be anywhere!" 

---------------------------------------------------- 

"Here's the latest report about the tropical storm from the National Weather Bureau as of 12 noon. Heavy rains have fallen down over Tokyo and the surrounding area since early this morning. Winds have picked up considerably, making it extremely dangerous to travel outside. Fortunately, the storm will be on its' way out north-northeast by early tonight." 

---------------------------------------------------- 

The storm was violent, to say the least. The winds and the rains came down and swept through the city to wreak havoc among the buildings and the people that stayed within them. The windows that shattered and the trees that fell could not be heard as its' noise was lost in the storm. The minute people heard of the warning, the shops, the schools, and other businesses closed long before anyone began their daily routine, a routine now crushed because of the tropical storm. 

Speaking of which, Serena didn't seem to mind. 

"Yeah, Molly! Now I have an extra day to study for that test! Well, I'm not ACTUALLY going to study for it, I'm just..." 

Serena spent half the day in her room, talking on the phone. Luna watched and did nothing about it. The cat thought she might as well spend the day in inactivity as well. 

With the storm making most of the noise as it is and with Serena's door shut, she couldn't hear the loud knock on the door. Fortunately, Serena's mom was downstairs and could hear it loud and clear, though she said out loud, "Who could be outside in a storm like this?" 

Sammy, Serena's brother, was also concerned about who was at the door, but didn't actually care enough to open the door. He was, though, suddenly surprised when he heard his mom scream, then a loud thud onto the floor. He rushed to the front door as fast as he could. Sammy was going to ask, "What happened, mom?" But he forgot those words when he saw a body of a teenager lying on the floor. The unconscious boy had a jacket, now completely soaked, on him. On that jacket were three letters, "FRC." 

Serena's mom turned the body face up to see was she was looking at. There was an ID card just hanging on to the front side of the boy's jacket. The family could barely read English, but it read, "Tyler, Jake." 

---------------------------------------------------- 

It had turned midnight over New York City. The staff was short-handed for the night, so Jake decided to take an extra shift. As he walked down the corridor leading to the command centre, a man ran down the hallway and bumped into Jake. Jake shouted, "Hey! Watch it!" 

The second Jake walked into the room, the fusion core at the opposite end of the command centre burst into flames. The fire turned the entire room into an inferno. As the tech staff scrambled in a failing effort to put the fire out, the doors closed shut, keeping air out and the fire in. 

The flames quickly consumed all but Jake, who stood in terror. But he was quick to react; he pulled the red lever marked "EMERGENCY." To Jake's surprise, nothing happened. He pulled the lever again; again, nothing happened. 

The flames were getting closer. "C'mon, open already!" Jake said to himself as he pulled the lever several times. The smoke and the flames were so great, Jake almost passed out before he could shout..... 

---------------------------------------------------- 

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Jake shouted as he jumped out of bed. After hitting his head on the floor, he looked around the room. He noticed a boy sitting at one end of the room. 

Sammy said, "Hey, you almost scared me there!" 

"W-where am I?" Jake replied weakly. He was a bit relieved his wrist translator was still working. 

"You're in my room. My name's Sammy." It was funny to him that an American spoke Japanese. 

"H-hi. How did I get here?" 

"We found you on our front door. Heh, I thought you were dead!" 

All of a sudden, the rain finally stopped. "Hey!" Sammy said. "The storm is gone!" 

"There was a storm here today?" 

Sammy didn't get an opportunity to answer, because her sister called out, "Hey, Sammy, give me my video game back!" 

Jake recognized that voice, "I-Is that Serena?" 

"Yeah," Serena's brother replied. "Why?" 

With no response, Jake rushed out of the room and into the hallway, while Sammy followed. There, they saw Serena, who also had a extremely surprised look on her face. 

"Jake?" Serena asked. "How did you get here?" 

Sammy answered that one, not knowing the importance of that question. "He passed out on our doorway, but I guess you're too lazy to figure THAT out." 

Jake and Serena ignored what the little kid said. They just stood there, surprised but a bit happy to see each other again. 

---------------------------------------------------- 

With the storm gone and the clouds disappearing, the two got out of the house and walked around for a bit. 

"Never thought I'd see you again," Serena said as they walked. 

"Yeah, me too," Jake replied. But that was all the conversation they could get out for the next two minutes. After that, Jake's communicator beeped. He turned it on and said, "Hacker??" 

The voice of Hacker One was on the other line. "Jake! You're still alive!" 

"Yeah, just barely. You going to pick me up?" 

"We have problems ourselves here at the FRC. Going to have to give us a few hours. We'll track you down after that. Just stay calm, we'll get you." 

Jake looked at Serena and smiled, "Don't worry about me, Hacker. I'll be fine. Take your time. Tyler out." 

---------------------------------------------------- 

It took a few hours for the people of Tokyo to get things up and running again. When the tropical storm ended, business and store owners re-opened their businesses to the public again. It was starting to get dark by that time, and by then, Jake and Serena were spending their time at a fast-food restaurant that had re-opened its' doors to the people. 

As they had their lunch, Serena was curious enough to ask, "So, what have you been doing lately?" 

Jake replied, "Aw, just thinking." 

"Hmm....of me?" 

"Yeah, sometimes. But...." 

Serena didn't like that last word. "But....what?" 

Jake didn't want to say it, but it was too late now. "I applied for the space colonies." 

Serena choked on her food. "T-the colonies? Where L-lisa is?" 

"Well, yeah....thought I was never going to see you again, so..." 

"But...even if you're accepted...you're not going to go, are you?" 

Jake didn't get the time to answer, because someone they both knew had just stepped through the door. 

"Hi Serena!" Darien said as he just walked in. 

"Hi," Serena replied plainly. 

Darien didn't know the other person that was with Serena. "So, who's your friend?" 

Jake reacted quickly. He stood up and shook hands, "Hi, you must be Darien. I'm Jake, Serena's tutor." 

"Tutor?" 

"Yeah, well, she happens to be...below average in a few subjects." 

"A few!? You're not in all of her classes, are you?" 

They both laughed, but it was Serena's silence that quieted the two. 

Darien smiled, "Well, I have to go pick up a friend here. I'll see you tonight, OK Serena? It was nice meeting you, Jake." 

Jake smiled as well, but he felt quite the opposite, "Same here, Darien." 

After a while, Darien was out of their view, so it was safe for Jake and Serena to talk again. But by then, Serena was filled with sadness. 

"What's wrong, Serena?" Jake asked softly, though he probably knew the answer. 

Serena said, "Hmm? Oh, nothing....I-I'll be right back..." 

She left the table and walked outside, leaving a few teardrops on the floor. Jake sighed and followed. 

---------------------------------------------------- 

Jake walked around the block, looking for Serena. At last, he found her sitting on a bench. 

"C'mon!" Jake said. "What's up?" 

Serena sighed. "Jake, we can't go on like this." 

"Hmm?" 

"I mean, you and me. I already have someone." 

Jake almost ignored that remark. He got closer to Serena and gave her a kiss. "Now tell me the truth. If that didn't mean anything at all, I'll just walk out and leave." 

Serena smiled, "Of course that meant something! But..." 

At that moment, Jake's communicator sounded. He turned it on and said, "Yeah?" 

It was Chris' voice, "Stay where you are! We'll pick you up!" 

"All right. Thanks." 

Jake turned it off and added, "You'd better go." 

"Yeah..." 

They smiled at each other and Serena started to walk away. She looked back and said, "You know....if I never met Darien....I would've picked you." 

For a second, Jake was happy. He smiled, "Thanks." 

Serena walked away and out of Jake's view. Jake almost had a tear in his eye, but he took a deep breath and sat down on the bench. 

A few minutes later, someone tapped Jake on the shoulder. Jake looked up. It was Chris. Beside him were Jackie, Mike, and Kim. 

"Hey there!" Chris said. "Remember us?" 

Jake laughed a bit. "Of course! Ready to go?" 

"Yeah!" 

Jake stood up and followed the rest of his team. 

Mike added, "You know, the second we got here, I met someone." 

"Oh really?" Jake replied. "Who?" 

"Well, she gave me a picture of herself." 

Mike handed Jake a photograph. It was a picture of Mina. Jake smiled at Mike. "C'mon, let's get out of here." 

Jackie activated the track-and-return device. A portal opened in front of them. The team of five jumped in and disappeared. 

---------------------------------------------------- 

It was silent in Tokyo.... 

THE END 


End file.
